r 




I LIBRARY OF THE 

I UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



Division 

Shslf„ Jfo, 



PJRESEJfTED BY 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



r^^J't # 



UNITED STATES OP AMBEIOA. i 



SERMONS 



ON 



PRACTICAL SUBJECTS, 




BV'TH'^ LATE 

kev. lant 'carpenter, ll.d. 




EDITED BY 

MARY CARPENTER 

Author of Our Convicts, " " Morning and Evening Meditations,' 
"Six Months in India," &c., &c. 



LONDON : 

E. T. WHITFIELD, 178 STRAND, W.C. 
1875. 



ARROWSMITH, PRINTER, QUAY STREET, BRISTOL. 



PRE FACE. 



The late Eev. Dr. Lant Carpenter was one of the 
Pastors of Lewins' Mead Chapel, Bristol, where he was 
highly esteemed for his ministry and his good works, 
both in his own congregation, and in the city generally. 
He also held a prominent position in the British 
Unitarian body, to which he belonged. 

Shortly after his departure from this world in April, 
1840, a volume of his sermons was prepared by his 
family for publication ; this was edited by his eldest 
Son, Dr. William Benjamin Carpenter, the Physiologist, 
while his second Son, the Eev. Eussell Lant Carpenter, 
prepared a Memoir of his Father. Both were pub- 
lished in a large octavo form, and were disposed of 
among friends by subscription. These volumes were 
not therefore extensively known. 

Dr. W. B. Carpenter thus speaks in his Preface to 
the Sermons : — No one who long attended on Dr. Car- 
penter's preaching, could avoid perceiving that he re- 
garded it as his chief duty to impress his hearers with 



iv. 



Preface, 



an operative sense of their Christian obligations ; and 
that he regarded all other objects as but secondary. 
Those who were best acquainted with the intellectual 
powers which he possessed, must have observed that, in 
his zealous devotement of these to his Master's service, 
he often restrained their exercise, — preferring the sim- 
plicity which could be understood by all, to those higher 
flights in which but a part of his audience could follow 
him. No wish has, therefore, been felt by his Family, 
to make this Selection convey an idea of his philosophic 
acumen, his critical learning, or his argumentative skill. 
They have rather desired to exhibit that to which he 
rendered these subservient, — his zeal and earnestness in 
the enforcement of the precepts of Christ, derived as 
they were from his deep conviction of their Divine 
authority, — the enlarged views he possessed of Christian 
duty, resulting from a faithful improvement of his reli- 
gious experience, — and the warmth of that benevolence, 
which, springing perhaps from natural temperament, 
was expanded and invigorated by his steady aim to 
imitate his Great Master, and to carry on his work of 
love and mercy.'' 

Sermons such as these, illustrated by the daily life 
of the preacher, must at all times be a useful help to 
those who desire to live in conformity with the Will of 
God, and in true development of the grand purposes of 
existence. They were greatly valued by all who had 
the privilege of coming under the influence of Dr. Lant 



Preface, 



V. 



Carpenter's life and teachings, and the results of their 
teaching have been perceptible in the lives of those who 
received them. A period of thirty-five years since his 
lamented death has not diminished that sense of their 
excellence. 

The present Editor, Dr. Lant Carpenter's eldest 
Daughter, feeling how largely she is indebted to her 
Father s influence and teachings, is desirous to extend 
them to the present generation, and has therefore selected 
the following Sermons from the original volume, with 
two not included in it. She hopes, by presenting them 
to the public in an inexpensive form, to make them 
generally useful This volume will be accompanied by 
an abridgment of the Memoir, for which she is indebted 
chiefly to the Brother, who originally prepared it. 

The Red Lodge House, 

Bkistol, May 3. 



INDEX. 



SERMON. PAGE. 

I. God our Heavenly Father . . . . . . 1 

II. God the source of all 17 

III. Dwelling in the light inaccessible." . . 27 

IV. Life and Immortality brought to light 

BY THE Gospel . . . . . . . . 38 

V. Open avowal of religious truth . . . . 51 

YI. The essential doctrines of the Gospel . . 64 

VII. Think on these things" 74 

VIII. ^^We have corrupted no man" .. ..96 



IX. Christian Patriotism 110 

X. The young exhorted to walk in the 

good old way . . . . . . . . 127 

XI. Ornaments and influence of the female 

SEX . . 142 

XII. Hope in God 158 

XIII. The cloud not bigger than a man's hand 172 

XIV. The Christian's peace . . 182 

XV. The will of the Lord be done " . . . . 195 

XVI. TH:t'ilW-xi^i3<;B' God the best rule of duty 206 



SERMON L 



GOD OUE HEAVENLY FATHEE. 



MATTHEW VII. 11. 

IF YE, THEN, BEESTG EVIL, KNOW HOW TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS 
UNTO YOUB CHILDBEN, HOW MUCH MOBE SHALL YOUB 
FATHEB WHICH IS IN HEAYEN GIVE GOOD THINGS TO 
THEM THAT ASK HIM. 

Human language necessarily fails when we are endeavour- 
ing to delineate the character and perfections of God. 
Nor is this wonderful. If the human imagination, in 
its most daring flights, cannot approach that light inacces- 
sible in which He dwells ; — if the human understanding, 
in its most cultivated state, and in its most perfect 
exercise, cannot And out the Almighty to perfection; — 
then the powers of language must fail, on a subject 
infinitely exceeding the utmost stretch of our intellectual 
powers. When we think and speak of the Most High, 
therefore, of His attributes and of His dispensations, it 
should be with humility and reverence, suited to the 
condition of dependent, frail, and erring children of mor- 
tality. He is in heaven, and we upon earth ; and while 
dwelling with grateful delight, and filial confidence, on 
the goodness and paternal character of God, our pious 

B 



2 



Sermon I. 



affections should be refined and elevated by the sentiment 
wMcL. cannot but arise from the thoughtful contemplation 
of His almighty power, His unerring wisdom, His un- 
bounded knowledge. His spotless holiness, and His moral 
administration. 

It is one great advantage of the sacred Scriptures 
(and it is one among the many reasons which forcibly 
recommend the habitual perusal of them), that they re- 
present the Supreme Being in various lights, and under 
various relations, and bring into view all the different 
ideas of His nature and character, by which our affections 
and conduct towards Him are to be regulated. We 
naturally feel disposed to dwell most upon those which 
best accord with our own dispositions, with the com- 
prehension of our understandings, the leading principles 
of our religious belief, or with circumstances which, for the 
time, or habitually, operate upon our minds, and give 
a peculiar bias to our trains of thought and feeling. If we 
had nothing to check this tendency, we should speedily form 
very narrow and partial views of the Divine character. 
We should dwell upon the fearful power, and terrible 
majesty of God till we ceased to love Him ; or upon His 
immensity and incomprehensibility, till we lost sight 
of His relation to ourselves ; or upon his awful judg- 
ments and righteous justice, tiU we forgot His good- 
ness and His grace; or perhaps upon His paternal 
love and pardoning mercy, till we imagined that His aU- 
gracious compassion would not permit Him to punish ; 
and deceive ourselves with the baneful and groundless 
expectation, that the weak fondness of the earthly parent 
would guide the Judge of all in the day of final retri- 
bution. But if we surrender our proud imaginations to 



God our Heavenly Father, 



3 



the instructions of sacred truth, and found our views of 
the Divine character and dispensations upon them, and 
not upon our speculations, then we may reasonably hope 
to attain consistent, correct, and enlarged ideas of God and 
of his dealings towards mankind, such as will indeed be a 
light to our feet, and a lamp unto our path, — such as will 
make religion our delight as well as our duty, and will at 
the same time operate, with a holy influence, to produce 
watchfulness and steadfastness in our Christian course, 
and to make all the discipline of life conducive to our 
everlasting welfare. 

Nevertheless, in the perusal of the sacred volume, we 
must faithfully employ that portion of understanding and 
information with which Grod hath blessed us. To pray for 
the^ wisdom which is profitable to direct, and not to use 
what we have, would prove us underserving of more. 
But if we dutifully use the light we have, we shall find 
more ; and we shall not be often destitute as to any need- 
ful truth. 

Our notions of the Divine character and dispensations 
have so great an influence on the whole tenor of our 
religious principles, that we ought to do all we can to form 
them correctly ; and whether our attention is directed to 
those expressions respecting God, and His dealings to 
mankind, which were accommodated to the dark under- 
standings and the gross conceptions of the children of 
Israel (and indeed the infancy of the human race in 
general), or to those more enlarged and refined ideas 
which we perceive in numerous parts of the Old Testa- 
ment, and throughout the New; whether we think of God 
as the Sovereign Judge, or as the Shepherd of His people, 
as the all-powerful Creator, able to destroy with a word 



4 



Sermon I. 



the universe He has formed, or as the constant friend and 
benefactor of His creatures ; — we should be careful to 
direct, to restrain, or to exalt our conceptions and our 
feelings, by those fundamental principles which ought to 
be as a landmark in all our inquiries and meditations. 
We should have deeply impressed upon our understandings 
and our hearts that Grod is a spirit, — that He knoweth the 
inmost recesses of our hearts, and as the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our 
ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts ; that His 
judgments must often be unsearchable by the finite under- 
standing, yet that they are all guided by perfect wisdom 
and justice ; — ^that with Him there is no variableness nor 
even the shadow of a change ; — that He exercises His 
providential care towards every creature in every part 
of His unbounded universe ; — and that He is love,— con- 
summate, perfect, unbounded goodness, yet faithful to His 
threatenings as well as to His promises ; — that He cannot 
be deceived, and will not be mocked, and will finally 
render unto every one according as his works have been. 
There are views of the Divine attributes fitted to raise the 
drooping heart, to strengthen the weak, to comfort the 
feeble-minded, to cheer the gloom of anxious care to en- 
courage and animate the servant of God in the patience 
of hope and the labour of love"; but there are also views 
fitted to strike terror into the guilty mind, and to alarm 
those who feel that they have not made God their portion 
and their friend. 

Thus guarded, we cannot but be benefitted by the 
thoughtful contemplation of that endearing character, 
under which it has pleased God to represent Himself to 
His rational creatures, in order to encourage them in their 



Ood our Heavenly Father. 



5 



obedience and in their trials, and to give to the pious 
heart the most cheering and impressive ideas of its duty. 
Indeed, if there he a spark of genuine virtue in the 
human heart, must not such thoughts cherish it? If 
there he any of the feelings of gratitude and love towards 
our Heavenly Preserver and Benefactor, must it not 
awaken, and enliven, and strengthen them, to reflect that 
such is His goodness, such His condescension to His weak 
and erring oJffspring, that, to encourage them in the way 
of holy obedience, to excite them to bear His image on 
their hearts, to support them under the trials of life, and 
to engage them to commit their souls unto Him in well- 
doing, He has been pleased to represent Himself to them 
as their Father ? 

The appellation is indeed a comprehensive one. In 
the words of one of our best devotional poets, 

" Parent, Protector, Guardian, Guide, 
Thou art each tender name in one." 

And if we take care to exclude all debasing thoughts, 
derived from the weakness, the blind fondness, the 
narrow comprehension of the earthly parent, we may then 
safely indulge all those consoling, strengthening, and 
animating ideas which this relation suggests, which in- 
deed are included in it. The appellation itself is cheering 
and encouraging ; and I doubt not that it is in the ex- 
perience of every one present, that when the heart is 
sinking under sorrow, or the apprehension of sorrow, 
when wounds have been inflicted which no human 
hand could heal, or when the child of God imagines that 
darkness and distress are in full prospect before him, — 
when all the offering has been the silent tear, and the 



6 



Sermon I. 



emotions of humble pious submission, — if, iu exercise of 
filial feeling he can say to Him who is ever present, My 
God, my Eatber," — ^tbe beamings of comfort and of hope 
penetrate the thick clouds of afiiiction, and show that the 
sun of divine mercy is still and for ever shining to diffuse 
rays of guidance and consolation. 

I have, at times, endeavoured to illustrate the Paternal 
relation of God, by showing what is included in the 
earthly relation, when this is guided, not only by the 
natural feelings of a Parent, but also by sound views of 
human nature and human duty ; — at the same time point- 
ing out how much this view of the Divine character tends 
to cherish the disposition of filial service, to excite us to 
love our fellow men as children of the same Parent, 
to encourage us to cast our care upon Him who careth for 
us, and to lead to the exercise of implicit trust and dutiful 
resignation when He exercises us with affliction. At 
present, I wish to lead into other parts of the extensive 
field of contemplation. 

The correspondence between the end and duty of the 
Paternal relation as exercised by the earthly parent, and 
that which God bears to His creatures, and especially 
to His rational creatures, is too obvious to require de- 
tailed consideration. It might be pleasing and profitable 
to point out the analogies at length ; but my present 
object requires only a few brief remarks. God is our 
Father, as He is the source of being. He first gave 
life and all its vital powers to the wonderful fabric of 
our bodies. He is our Father, for He is our Preserver, 
Protector, and Benefactor. The streams of divine bounty 
flow indeed through human channels, and we sometimes 
forget the source from which all our blessings pro- 



God OUT Heavenly Father, 



7 



ceed; but on a moment's recollection we cannot but 
perceive, tbat 

" All the rich gifts that Nature brings, 
Are gifts descending from His Throne ; " 

that it is, in reality, His hand that feeds a.nd clothes us, 
sustaining our bodily powers, enabling us to draw support 
and pleasure from the objects around us, and doing us 
good every day, every moment. 

Thus far all His creatures are His children ; but in 
a peculiar manner is He the Father of His rational 
creatures, the Father of our spirits. It is He who gives us 
those noble powers which distinguish us from the brutes 
that perish ; — those powers which can trace out His being 
and attributes in the universe He hath formed ; — by which 
He can communicate the plans of His providence ; — by 
which we can meditate on things not seen ; — by which we 
can penetrate into immeasurable fields of space ; yet 
further, can look forward to an existence of unclouded 
light when time itself shall be no more. The Father of 
our spirits, it is He who formed us after His own image, 
who has made us capable of bearing the impress of His 
moral perfections, of becoming partakers of the Divine 
nature, and of rising in the scale of spiritual excellence 
from one degree of improvement to another, and to another 
in endless progression. Here we feel our conceptions 
of His Paternal character indeed exalted ; — exalted above 
all the scenes of time and sense, — extended beyond the 
utmost limits of human comprehension. Ages, and ages, 
and ages, will pass away ; but the noble principle which 
makes us indeed the children of God wiU know no decay ; 



8 



Sermon I. 



and when ages and ages more have passed, still will know 
no change, except that which brings it nearer to the per- 
fection of Him, who, however, must be for ever exalted 
above all finite excellence. 

He is our Father, too, since in the methods of infinite 
wisdom, He is preparing His faithful and obedient 
children for this endless existence. All things will work 
together for good to those who love Grod. He maketh His 
sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth His 
rain on the just and on the unjust ; and in our limited 
operations of Christian love. He requireth that we should 
imitate His unlimited and diffusive benevolence even 
to the unthankful and the evil. But we must in a 
peculiar manner regard him as the Father of those, 
who endeavour to be His children by humble pious 
obedience to His commandments ; by grateful love for His 
obvious mercies, and by submissive resignation when 
these wear the form of afflictions. By discipline and by 
trial, by correction and by reward, He is training up our 
souls for holiness and happiness ; and we are encouraged 
to believe that He orders all the events that befal His 
dutiful servants in that way which they themselves would 
desire, if they could divest themselves of all selfish parti- 
alities, and, with enlarged comprehension, consider all 
things in ther connections and consequences. 

Since then, ^Grod is the sourcej of all being, and of 
all power and capacities of body and mind, our constant 
Preserver and Benefactor, and our Guardian and our 
Guide ; — since He is training us up for an immortal 
existence when this life is ended, — He surely is our 
Father. 

Peculiar encouragement is afforded for these views in 



God our Heavenly Father. 



9 



the Gospel. It is seldom tliat our Lord speaks of God 
imder any other appellation than that of Father. It 
is reasonable to conclude that this in part arose from 
the Divine words at his baptism, ^^This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased"; yet it cannot be doubted 
that it proceeded in no small degree from the display, 
in his own wort and commission, of the universal good- 
ness and paternal love of God towards men. He not only 
spoke of God as his Father, and the Father, but often as 
our Seavenly Father ; he reasons from the relation ; he 
directs us to address Him as our Father in heaven ; and 
presents to us the most solid ground for filial confidence, 
and for filial ^afiection. We see in the Gospel a rich 
provision made by the Father of Spirits for the moral 
welfare of His children, by offers of pardoning mercy, 
and by sanctifying principles presented through His 
beloved Son. He has given a new and spiritual life to 
the humbled contrite sinner ; and by the resurrection of 
Jesus from the dead. He has brought us again to a lively 
hope of an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away." Surely he who hath Gospel views 
of the character and dispensations of the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus, and amidst numerous imperfections 
and failings can, on Gospel conditions, hope that he is an 
object of the Divine favour, must feel an inspiring satis- 
faction and heartfelt peace, — such as the world knows not 
of, such as the world cannot give in its best delights, and 
such as the world cannot take away by its bitterest malig- 
nity, — when in the hour of solitary communion with his 
Maker, he can say with humble confidence, ^^This great 
and gracious Being is my God and my Father, He views 
me with a father's pity, and guides me with a father's 



10 



Sermon I. 



care, He is my Father here, and He will be my Father 
through all eternity." 

The paternal character of God affords a noble en- 
couragement to the expression of pious affection in prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving. Our Saviour ex- 
pressly brings this into view in the words of my text. 
"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
unto your children, how much more will your Father that 
is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." 
The philosophic inquirer who leaves the light of re- 
velation, and has seen little and felt little of the workings 
of the human heart in connection with the exercise of 
prayer and devout communion with the Father of our 
spirits, is apt to find difficulties in the subject, which have 
in numerous instances checked the spirit of devotion, and 
caused that to be neglected which Grod hath made a grand 
and almost indispensable means of procuring the best of 
His blessings. Undoubtedly the great point is that we do 
His will ; but what does His will respect ?^ — Solely the 
external conduct? Assuredly not. It includes the 
regulation of the springs of conduct, without which there 
can be no religious obedience, or it will be weak, and 
limited, and unsteady. In a variety of instances the 
actions are the same in different individuals, while the 
qualities of heart from which they originate are utterly 
different from each other. In one case perhaps they may 
be alloyed with self in its less baneful form, or even 
debased by sordid and malignant passions ; — in the other, 
perhaps, they have had their source in those noble 
principles, a sense of duty, Christian love, a pious disposi- 
tion to obey God, and desire of His approbation. 

Now a religious life (and let it never be forgotten that 



God our Heavenly Father, 



11 



a life without religion lias no hope set before it in the 
Gospel) necessarily includes the dispositions and affections 
of the heart ; and you may as well call him a benevolent 
man who makes the world his idol, who does good merely 
to gain its applause, and sacrifices at its shrine the simple 
principles of conscience and uprightness, and even the 
more enlarged directions of Christian love, as term that 
life religious in which God is little thought of, His pre- 
sence little regarded. His will seldom expressly obeyed, 
His displeasure seldom expressly shunned. His favour 
but little the direct object of desire and motive of ex- 
ertion, His mercies seldom traced to their source. His 
hand scarcely acknowledged even in aflBiction, in which in 
short the various affections of piety are not cherished and 
exercised. And how they can be duly cherished, and 
made stable actuating principles, without prayer, I know 
not. The acutest philosopher has never yet pointed out 
any adequate means ; while man is the frail child of 
mortality, it never can be shown that we can do without 
prayer, unless we can do without piety. 

How the Father of spirits operates upon the human 
mind, it may not be always easy to specify, nor is it 
necessary. By some means or other, directly or indirectly, 
He does operate ; and I am fully satisfied that He has 
made sincere and humble adoration, thanksgiving, resig- 
nation, and supplication, in other words prayer, either 
mental or expressed in words, an essential instrument in 
obtaining that principle of piety, that Divine influence by 
which we are strengthened in the temptations of life, 
cheered in its sorrows, supported under its aflS-ictions, 
encouraged in its anxieties, directed in its difficulties, 
aided and animated in its duties ; — by which, in short, we 



12 



Sermon I. 



are guided in the way of peace and security and holiness 
here, and prepared for that world where sorrow and soli- 
citude and temptation will give place to complete excel- 
lence and happiness. It is not, perhaps, too much to say 
that it is impossible to walk with God, and to please Him 
with the obedience of our lives, without prayer in some 
or other of its forms. Seek, then, with full desire and 
purpose of heart, and ye shall find ; let prayer be united 
with watchfulness and diligence in your Christian course, 
and it shall bring down the best of blessings. 

The Paternal character of Grod affords the most en- 
couraging hope to the penitent sinner. On this point 
again we are fully borne out by the representations of the 
Gospel. In the affecting parable well known to you 
under the title of the Prodigal Son, our Saviour has most 
distinctly brought into view the operation of a father's 
love in forgiving the sorrowing and contrite object of his 
displeasure. He wastes his substance in riotous living. 
But distress brings him to a sense of his sins, his folly, 
and his ingratitude ; and he resolves to try what paternal 
compassion will work in his favour. He seeks not to be 
restored to his filial rank, but desires to be one of his 
hired servants. But his contrition is met with the in- 
dulgent impulse of paternal kindness ; and he finds him- 
self in the arms of mercy, as soon as his father sees the 
token of genuine and full repentance. 

I do not believe that any human system can stand 
against the simple inferences from this impressive, and 
heart-reviving parable, where the disciple of Christ leaves 
himself to his Master's guidance. Paint the Almighty in 
all His terrors (and terrors indeed there are for the im- 
penitent and disobedient), paint Him in all the awe of 



God our Heavenly Father, 



13 



majesty and greatness, speak of His goodness and His 
justice, holiness, whicli will not allow Him to clear the 
guilty — humiliation and sorrow and alarm may seize the 
guilty heart ; and it is well that they should, for often it 
is by these alone that the sinner can be made to see his 
danger and turn from his evil ways ; — but let him see that 
there is no room for despair ; let him know that the Lord 
God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, forgiving 
iniquity, transgressions and sins : that even the holy men 
of old had declarations of His pardoning grace, and could 
affirm with pious confidence, The broken and contrite 
heart, 0 God, Thou wilt not despise " ; and that he who 
came upon the express errand of love and mercy, and who 
sealed the Covenant of grace with his blood, declared that 
there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and 
pronounced him an object of divine approbation, who 
with humble, contrite heart had smote upon his breast 
and said, God be merciful to me a sinner." 

The wisely afiectionate parent, solicitous to prevent 
the contagion of evil among his children, to prevent the 
repetition of disobedience in the offender, will not from 
selfish weakness omit those corrective punishments which 
he sees necessary to support the authority, on the due 
exercise of which alone he can ground a solid hope of 
bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the ' 
Lord. Sometimes, unable to penetrate into the dis- 
positions of their hearts, and doubtful how far their 
professions of sorrow are produced alone by the fear of 
punishment (and not by the painful sense of nis dis- 
pleasure, and the wounds of conscience), he may justly 
hesitate in remitting the penalty of offence against filial 
and general duty ; — but, when he sees good reason to 



14 



Sermon I. 



believe that sorrow has arisen from right dispositions, and 
that it has done its work, in producing fear of disobedi- 
ence in future, is he not ready, and more than ready, to 
clasp to his bosom the child whom he loves, even when 
his arm is lifted to correct ? And can we suppose that 
God would make the parent able to entertain higher views 
of the paternal character than he will find realized in 
Him, whom he is taught to call upon as his Heavenly 
Father? Often the cries of penitence and the bitterest 
anguish, are but the temporary emotions produced by 
suffering, or by the dread of still greater suffering ; often 
is that sorrow, which the human friend, with blind pre- 
sumption, dares to pronounce a genuine repentance, and 
authoritatively to promise to it the Divine forgiveness, 
nothing but like the morning cloud or the early dew 
which soon passeth away ; but if He that seeth not as 
man seeth, but looketh at the heart, discerns that godly 
sorrow which worketh a real and efficacious repentance, 
no doubt (I say no doubt because the Gospel declares it), 
He is ready to forgive, ready to exercise His paternal 
mercy. 

Certainly it is a part of His all-wise dispensations, 
that repentance will not altogether remove the temporal 
evil that the sinner has brought upon his own head. 
This is necessary to maintain the sanctions of duty among 
those who cannot judge of the sincerity of repentance, 
and who need the warning of present punishment for sin. 
It is necessary even for the penitent himself; to excite 
him to watchfulness, to awaken his gratitude, and to pro- 
mote more active exertion in the way of filial duty, more 
ready acquiescence in the dealings of God towards him. 
But sincere and effectual repentance must always alleviate 



God our Heavenly Father, 



15 



the temporary effects of past transgressions and neglects 
of duty ; it must cure or greatly lessen the spiritual evil 
which sin has wrought in the heart ; it must restore peace 
to the wounded conscience ; and, though the eye of the 
humble penitent must often be dimmed by the tear of 
contrition at the recollection of the past, still it can pene- 
trate to the Throne of grace and mercy, and can look 
forward to the period, when, the ends of punishment 
having been fully answered, he shall experience no more 
the frailty and the sufferings of humanity. 

Much more might be said, and if time permitted I 
might proceed to enlarge upon the encouragement and 
supports which the paternal character of God affords to 
the sincere Christian, in the various trials of life, and in 
the prospect of his last great change. But it is a subject 
on which it does the heart good to dwell, and we may 
have opportunities of again recurring to it. What a 
thought it is that He who is the Sovereign Lord of 
Heaven and earth, the Creator, the Preserver, the 
Governor of all things, makes the wants of every crea- 
ture the object of His gracious care ; and that, if we 
faithfully seek His favour. He vdll make all things work 
together for our good. 

Go on, then, humble yet faithful disciple of Jesus, 
with tranquility and peace, in the way of providence in 
which thy Heavenly Father is leading thee, in the way 
of duty which He hath pointed out to thee, secure that it 
will conduct thee safely and well to regions of perfect 
light and happiness, where all darkness as to His dealings 
will be removed, and all sorrow for ever ended. In 
the hours of ease and prosperity, seek the favour of 
thy Heavenly Father, to employ thy talents to His glory, 



16 



Sermon I. 



and to the best interest of those who are also His off- 
spring, His children. In the hour of affliction, remember 
the hand from which it comes ; glorify your Father by 
your pious submission and filial resignation, and by your 
wise improvement of His paternal chastisement. At all 
times aim to live as in His sight ; maintain an habitual 
communion with Him in prayer and devout meditation ; 
and then thou wilt be well prepared to meet all. that He 
hath appointed for thee. If distrest, if perplexed, thou 
wilt never be forsaken. If earthly friends forsake thee, 
if thou art left to proceed on thy journey of life without 
the companions of thy course, in thy sorrow and thy joys, 
thou art not alone, for thy Father is with thee. He will 
be thy guide and thy guard, thy refuge and thy strength. 
In the dark valley of the shadow of death. His rod and 
His staff shall support and comfort thee. He will be thy 
never-failing portion, thy exceeding great reward. 

May this, Brethren, be our blessed lot. May we be 
in truth the children of Grod, by living as the faith- 
ful disciples of Christ. — Amen. 



SERMON IL 



GOD TKE SOUECE OF ALL. 



EOMANS XL, 36. 

FOR OE HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AIsD TO HIM, AEE ALL 
THES-GS; TO HIM BE GLOEY POU EVER, AMEN. 

The Apostle, in the portion of his Epistle which he closes 
with these words, had been engaged in developing that 
appointment of Infinite "Wisdom, by which the infatuation 
and unbelief of the Jewish nation had brought about the 
extension of the blessings of the New Covenant to all 
mankind. At the conclusion, he breaks out in the 
language of profound and cheering admiration, 0 the 
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God ; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways 
past finding out." And then he (with an obvious refer- 
ence to the sublime words of the prophet,^ Who hath 
directed the spirit of Jehovah, or being His counsellor 
hath taught Him?") continues, Eor who hath known 
the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been His counsellor ? 
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recom- 
pensed unto him again ?" That is, — Hath man rendered 
any service to His Maker, for which his bounties are only 
a requital ? Certainly not. For of Him, and through 
* Isaiah xl, 13. 



0 



18 



Sermon II. 



Him, and to Him, are aU things ; to Him be glory for 
ever, Amen." 

In that most important branch of human knowledge 
which respects the character and government of Grod, 
there are some fundamental truths, which, when once we 
have acquired a reasonable certainty respecting the just- 
ness of them, we should employ as land-marks to guide 
us in all our speculations and inquiries, and from which 
we ought to allow no notions to lead us astray, derived 
from our partial observation of the events of life, or from 
detached portions of the Scriptures. The sublime and 
interesting truths contained in the comprehensive words of 
my text, are of this description. After we have once 
fixed upon our minds the conviction that those are truths, 
we should exercise that conviction ; we should suspect our 
own judgments when they lead us to doubt with respect 
to them ; we should pursue the application of them in the 
numerous instances in which this is clear, and consider the 
foundation of them in the perfections of the Divine nature. 
In short, we should cultivate faith and trust, humbly 
hoping that, if we attain the happiness of the blessed, 
our views will be more enlarged ; — that we shall then 
be more able to see things in the light in which they are 
seen by the Infinite Being who ordereth all things in 
wisdom and goodness ; — and that we shall then as clearly 
perceive that all being and all events, (even those which 
now appear most incomprehensible,) are contributing their 
part in the grand and comprehensive scheme of Provi- 
dence, as we do now that all beings owe their existence 
and all their powers to Him, and dej)end upon His 
constantly operating energy, for the continuance of their 
existence, and for the support and exercise of those powers. 



God the source of all. 



19 



These, indeed, are truths which at once force our con- 
viction, though they are too vast to be grasped in their 
full extent by the huanan understanding. The in- 
numerable instances in which we can perceive the wise 
adaptation of means to ends, the skilful adjustment of 
parts to the purposes of the whole, the regularity and 
uniformity with which causes operate to produce effects, 
the wonders of the vegetable, and still more of the animal 
creation, and yet more the powers of our minds, — all 
operate to produce a conviction in the existence of a 
Supreme designing cause ; which yields only to the in- 
fluence of pride, or of that wickedness which shuts the 
understanding against truths which bring with them 
dismay and apprehension. The philosophic physician, 
Galen, became convinced of the being of a Grod, by the 
study of the human skeleton ; and when we consider the 
astonishing mechanism by which the various functions 
of our bodies are effected, the numerous instruments of 
motion all admirably adapted to their respective purposes, 
the variety and delicacy of those organs by which the 
powers of life and sensation are supported, it seems im- 
possible that any one capable of understanding the 
purposes and structure of the various parts of our frame, 
should doubt that it was formed by the wisdom and power 
of an intelligent Eirst Cause. The researches and obser- 
vations of the philosopher, whether directed to the structure 
and inhabitants of the earth, or to its situation and motions 
as one of an immense system of worlds, whether directed 
to the minutest, or to what we cannot but consider the 
grandest, displays of the Divine agency, alike contribute 
to increase the mass of proofs, that there must have been 
a designing Cause; and that He who created all things, 



20 



Sermon II. 



an adapted all, and all their parts to tlieir various pur- 
poses, must liave been infinitely wise and powerful. In 
numberless instances, all tliat man lias to do, is to observe 
and trace out the purposes of the various parts ; and can 
it be supposed that these things could have come into 
existence by chance, which exercise the utmost skill of the 
human mind, and which reward its exertions by the per- 
ception of the most exquisite contrivance to answer the 
most benevolent ends? Even the little worm that crawleth 
on the ground is a sufficient proof of the existence of an 
intelligent and designing Cause. A patient observer of 
nature (M. Lyonnet,) after the most accurate and long 
continued examination, discovered in the caterpillar which 
lives on the willow, no fewer than 4,000 muscles, which is 
nearly ten times as many as have been distinguished in 
the human body ; all of them arranged in the most 
beautiful order, all subservient to the convenience of the 
animal, and all of them capable of motion, and producing 
motion at its will and direction. And He who formed 
this apparently insignificant animal with this wonderful 
mechanism, so formed innumerable worlds that they 
should move in their respective paths without confusion or 
interruption ; and so formed the human being that, in 
addition to the astonishing and inimitable powers of life 
and sensation, he possesses an understanding capable of 
tracing out and admiring the Wisdom and Power by 
which all things were created, and affections which can be 
directed to the unseen Cause of all ; — so formed him that 
he can know and love and obey his Maker. 

Thus clear is it that there is a Great Being from whom 
are all things ; and not less clear that by Him are all 
things, and that by Him the existence and powers of every 



God the source of all. 



21 



being througliout His vast creation are continually main- 
tained. That astonishing quality which we call life, is 
supported by the operation of a variety of causes, all of 
which derive their efficacy from His agency, which are in 
fact only instances of its operation. Were that agency 
withdrawn, the bond which unites the particles of matter 
with each other would be broken ; the laws which regulate 
the motions of this world and all other worlds would be 
destroyed; the various properties of our bodies and of our 
minds would be annihilated ; all would be without order, 
without life, without intelligence. We cannot but feel 
ourselves constantly and absolutely dependent upon Him 
for life and breath and all things ; and those must indeed 
live without Grod in the world, who never observe and 
gratefully adore the guardianship of an invisible Hand, 
preserving them in life and preserving to them so 
many things which are calculated to make life a bless- 
ing, — who are never impressed, by the events which 
happen to them and around them, with the conviction, 
that all things continually depend on His sovereign 
will. Happy those who, by the va^rious discipline to 
which He has seen fit to subject them, have learnt 
habitually to direct their thoughts to Him as their constant 
Friend and Benefactor, — to live as always in the presence 
of Him in whom we live and move and have our being, — 
to be grateful, obedient, and resigned. 

And though so many and clear are our means of know- 
ledge respecting the existence and attributes of the Most 
High, yet trust and resignation are qualities, the ex- 
perience of which is often required in our passage through 
this state of trial. In what we commonly call the world 
of nature, it is not difficult to see, and generally to obtain 



Sermon II. 



a lively conviction, that aU. things are to Him,-- -that they 
all tend to the accomplishment of wise and benevolent 
purposes. But where man is much concerned, the im- 
mediate designing cause often conceals from our view the 
agency which in reality operates. Man often introduces 
apparent confusion, instead of that obvious order which is 
the inseparable attendant upon obedience to the known 
will of God ; and in that confusion, our limited compre- 
hensions seem scarcely able to perceive the ordinations of 
Him, who in reality guides, and guides all things well. 
Yet we have abundant grounds for the conviction, that, in 
the world of Providence, as well as in the world of nature, 
all beings and events are contributing their parts to the 
accomplishment of His wise and gracious purposes, that 
all is as He wills, and that His will is good. His judg- 
ments are indeed unsearchable, and His ways past finding 
out ; but it is highly important for our own comfort, as 
well as for our entertaining right views as to the character 
and dispensations of Grod, that we should learn to acknow- 
ledge His superintending agency, learn to regard all events 
as making a part of His vast plan, and to entertain and 
cherish a firm and lively faith in the grand truth, that the 
whole and every part of that plan is so ordered by Infinite 
Wisdom and Power, that all must contribute to bring 
about the purposes of Infinite Goodness. 

We must infer this truth from the known attributes of 
the Supreme Being. When we reflect upon the extent of 
the universe, as it comes within the limits of our own 
observation,— when we reflect that, vast as it is, there is 
no reasonable ground for doubt that it is only a small part 
of that indeed unbounded system which was at first 
formed, and is continually supported by Him, — when we 



God the source of all. 



23 



consider how innumerable the tribes of living beings 
which the unaided sight can discover, and how small the 
number of these compared with that of the minute animals 
which are discovered by the assistance of the microscope, 
and how infinitely small the number of these compared 
with that of those which are the inhabitants of innumerable 
other worlds, and that all these must owe their existence 
to Him, and must continually depend upon Him for the 
support of that existence, and of their varied powers, — 
we cannot fail to perceive that His power must be un- 
limited (except indeed by natural|Jimpossibilities,) — and 
that it is, and must ever be, competent to execute what- 
ever purposes "Wisdom and Groodness may combine to 
form. And when we consider the evidence of that 
Wisdom by which this power has been directed, whether 
in its grandest displays of skill in the adjustment of the 
motions of the heavenly bodies, or in the wonderful adap- 
tation of the various organs of the smallest insect to its 
wants and necessities, — when we attentively observe the 
numerous and admirable contrivances in the structure of 
our own frame, the suitableness of " the parts^to their 
respective purposes, and to the well-being of the whole, — 
when we consider how the functions requisite for life, for 
sensation, for thought, are accomplished, and by what 
delicate and wonderful mechanism, — when we call to mind 
that the same Wisdom which contrived the astonishing 
structure of the human frame, (which we cannot ;but 
admire the more we understand its organs and their uses,) 
formed the parts, and communicated and regulated the 
powers and properties, of all beings in every place 
throughout the unbounded universe, — the conclusion forces 
itself upon our minds, that the wisdom of God is indeed 



24 



Sermon II. 



Infinite. Our own noble powers become as nothing in the 
comparison ; and we fcannot but perceive that the most 
extensive grasp of human understanding, is competent 
only to trace out the proofs of Wisdom, which cannot 
be fully comprehended by any finite mind, but which has 
so constituted us, and probably aU other intelligent beings, 
that we can gain from the things which are seen a con- 
viction that the agency of that Infinite Power, by which 
all things rose into being, was directed in its operations by 
Infinite Knowledge.] 

We speak of Infinite Power and Wisdom; and from 
reflection on the works of God, and from the Eevelation 
which He has been pleased to make of His character and 
government, we [perceive that power and wisdom must be 
His attributes, and that they must be unlimited. But 
when we thoughtfully consider the extent of this truth, 
we cannot but be struck with amazement and awe ; and 
while we adore Him who is thus possessed of Infinite 
Wisdom and Power, we cannot but rejoice that those 
attributes ^are guided by Benevolence equally unbounded. 
And when we have attained a firm belief in the declaration 
of the Grospel, that Grod is love, — corroborated and illus- 
trated by the innumerable proofs of benevolence in His 
works and ways, mixed it is true with difficulties, which 
faith lessens but cannot entirely remove, but too decisive 
to allow of any other supposition than that God is good, 
and if good. Infinitely good, — when we have acquired 
this conviction, then our amazement and awe are blended 
with love and gratitude ; and this Infinitely great and 
gracious Being can be viewed by us as our Father and 
our Friend. 

When once the unlimited nature of the Divine Power 



God the source of all. 



25 



and knowledge is admitted, it follows as a necessary con- 
sequence, that all events are contributing to tlie ac- 
compliskment of His great designs. For, even supposing 
tliat God is only possessed of that degree of knowledge 
which is requisite for His being acquainted with every 
thing which takes place in every part of the universe, it 
cannot be supposed that He would permit any being to 
derange that plan, which He had appointed for the ac- 
complishment of those ends which had been proj)osed by 
His benevolent Wisdom. But this becomes still more 
decided and clear, when we consider that Nature and 
Eevelation concur in establishing the fore-knowledge of 
God ; — ^that He must know all the effects which would be 
produced by the various powers with which he endowed 
His creatures ; — that from all eternity every event and 
change throughout His whole creation has been ever 
present to His Infinite mind. Incomprehensible as the 
knowledge of the Deity is, and must ever be, to 
finite minds, yet all reflection on the other attributes of 
which He is possessed, lead to the conclusion that this 
also must be His. ^^If the entire frame of nature, now 
actually in being," (says Abeei^ethy), and the entire 
scheme of Providence which He is now carrying on, 
comprehending the whole series of events, — if these be 
the works of design, they must have been known before 
they began to be ; and it is absurd, that powers wholly 
derived from and absolutely depending on a wise Author, 
for ends which He intended, should not be foreseen by 
Him, with all their exercises, and all their possible pro- 
ductions." Agreeably to this are the sublime declarations 
of the Prophet Isaiah, speaking in the name of the most 
High, (chap. xlvi. 9, 11,) ^^I am God and there is none 



26 



Sermon II. 



else ; I am God, and there is none like Me, from the 
beginning declaring the end, and from ancient times the 
things which are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall 
stand, and I will do all My pleasure ; yea I have spoken 
it, I will also Tbring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will 
also do it." 

When we have proceeded thus far, the conclusion 
immediately follows, that all events are but the gradual 
unfolding of that mighty scheme which through all 
eternity was present to His Infinite mind ; and that all 
things must therefore have been so planned and arranged, 
that, however incomprehensible the means, they shall 
bring about the purposes of Almighty and All-wise bene- 
volence; that of Him and by Him and to Him are all 
things. 



SERMON IIL 



DWELLING- IN THE LIGHT INACCESSIBLE." 



1 TIMOTHY, VI., 15, 16. 

THE BLESSED AKD ONLY POTENTATE, THE KING OE E:rN"GS, AND 
LORD OE LOEDS ; WHO ONLY HATH 33IM0ETALITY ; DWEL- 
LING IN THE LIGHT WHICH NO MAN CAN APPROACH UNTO ; 
WHOM NO MAN HATH SEEN NOR CAN SEE ; TO WHOM BE 
HONOUR AND POWER EVERLASTING : AMEN. 

There are views of tlie Divine Being which, are adapted 
to every valuable state of the hnman mind. Awe and 
reverence, wonder, love and gratitude, trust and resig- 
nation, all find abundant sources to excite and cherish 
them, in the contemplation of the being and attributes of 
the Most High. Is the heart attuned to delight and joy ? 
— the riches of divine love present an inexhaustible fund 
for its most transporting emotions. Is it most in unison 
with those milder feelings, with which a sense of depend- 
ence is usually accompanied ? — there is every thing to call 
them forth ; the events which happen to us and around 
us, and the declarations of the gospel, all prove that in 
Him, and in Him only, we live and move and have our 
being. Do unexpected occurrences in life present peculiar 
degrees of happiness ? — from Him proceedeth every good 
and perfect gift. Are we involved in deep distress ? — He 



28 



Sermon III. 



is the Grod of 'mercy and of consolation, He chasteneth. His 
children but for their profit, and will make all things 
work together for good, to those who love Him. Does 
penitence heave the deep sigh at the recollection of past 
transgressions, and seek for some foundation on which to 
rest its hopes ?— He is represented as the Lord God, 
merciful and gracious, willing to receive the repentant 
sinner, and desiring that all should return unto Him and 
live. Do the events of life appear involved in that 
mystery, which taffies the exertion of the strongest 
intellect fully to comprehend ? — though clouds and dark- 
ness are round about Him, all His ways are mercy and 
truth ; He will do that only which is right. Is the 
intellect in its full vigour, capable of the most profound 
investigation, and desirous to exercise its highest powers ? 
— in the Divine perfections, works, and ways, there is a 
field of thought which ages would be insufiicient to 
enable it fully to explore. Does the imagination expand 
its wings, and seek to soar beyond the objects of time and 
sense, to contemplate grandeur and awful sublimity ? — 
He dwelleth in light inaccessible, He is infinitely great 
and wise and powerful. He is the King eternal, immortal, 
and invisible, everywhere present, everywhere and at all 
times exerting His agency, unlimited in all His excel- 
lences, the underived, self-existent Jehovah. If it stretch 
its daring flight to the utmost verge of what is known to 
us of the starry universe, and with the glance of thought 
(swifter even than the rays of light,) pass beyond the 
myriads, and myriads of myriads of suns and systems 
which philosophy has discovered, and take its station at 
the farthest spot to which human knowledge extends, it 
conceives ten thousand times ten thousand suns and 



Dwelling in the light inaccessible. 



29 



systems, extending beyond each, other in infinite pro- 
gression, and is confounded when it contemplates the 
extent of that power and wisdom and goodness, by which 
all those worlds, with all their parts and properties, and 
all their inhabitants in all their diversities of structure 
and qualities, must originally have been created and still 
are preserved in existence ; and it cannot but contemplate 
with sentiments of the profoundest reverence, and the 
deepest astonishment, that knowledge which is intimately 
acquainted with every event, throughout the unbounded 
universe, and that agency which is everywhere and con- 
stantly exerted to support the existence and functions of 
all its parts. In connection with the all-mighty, omnis- 
cient, eternal, everlasting, unchangeable, source of all 
being and perfection, the Creator and Preserver of all, 
the parent and friend of mankind, upon whose will we 
are constantly and absolutely dependent, and who (while 
He regulates the motions of worlds innumerable) supports 
the life and powers of every, even the most insignificant, 
thing that inhabits them, — in connection with this great 
and glorious Being, there is enough to exercise the noblest 
powers of the understanding, the most vigorous concep- 
tions of the imagination, and the best affections of the 
heart, throughout the endless ages of eternity. 

In the sublime representation to which those obser- 
vations more particularly refer (that He who is the sole 
source of being and of power dwelleth in light inaccessihle), 
the Apostle has (by some) been supposed to proceed upon 
the ideas prevalent among the Jews of the local residence 
of the Supreme Being ; but I persuade myself that he 
h.ad a much more elevated idea of Him who is a spirit, 
and who filleth heaven and earth with His presence ; and 



30 



Sermon III. 



tliat his words, even if founded upon these ideas, have no 
reference to corporeal light, but to that ineffable splendour 
and greatness, which attend all the Divine attributes, and 
surpass our most exalted conceptions, — to that inconceiv- 
able glory which surrounds all the perfections of the 
Most High, and renders them impenetrable to the eyes 
of the human understanding. I consider the Apostle as 
saying, that the nature of the Supreme Being is incom- 
prehensible, and that His excellences are great and 
glorious beyond the grasp of every finite understanding. 

I shall not at this time enter into the consideration of 
those mysteries which occasionally attend the proceedings 
of Grod towards His creatures. His judgments are indeed 
unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. We see 
but in part ; and to grasp the all-perfect plans of Pro- 
vidence, we should be able to view them in all their 
causes, connexions, and consequences, as they are seen by 
Him, to whom the past, the future, and the present, are 
at all times and equally present. The greater the com- 
prehension of the pious mind, the less its sight is inter- 
rupted by that gloom which sometimes veils the ways of 
Providence ; and the more it has acquired of filial love 
and confidence, and dutiful submission, the less will what 
remains be felt. But it is well sometimes to penetrate 
beyond the darkness, in which to us the Most High 
appears, when viewed with an eye dimmed by earthly 
weakness and passions ; and, at an humble distance, to 
contemplate the unspeakable glories of Him who dwelleth 
in light inaccessible. 

His very JExistence is glorious beyond all conception. 
All other beings are derived and dependent. Of the 
innumerable orders of the animal creation with which 



Dwelling in the light inaccessible. 



31 



we are acquainted, from the little animalcule which is 
invisible to the unaided sight, to man, the noblest in the 
series, all obviously depend upon the Divine will for their 
very existence ; and ascend in the scale of being high as 
we please, to the highest orders of intelligences of which 
we can form any conception, derived existence and dependence 
are felt to be their qualities ; and we cannot rest in 
imagination till we arrive at the great I am, self-existent, 
independent. Though He who formed the human mind, 
hath so constituted its powers, that, in their noblest 
exertions, they rise to Him, and, by the very nature of 
the mental fabric, are almost obliged to admit the exist- 
ence of one Supreme intelligent agent, and thence to 
acknowledge (or else fall into the most glaring absur- 
dities) that of necessity His existence must be absolutely 
underived, and of course absolutely independent, — yet the 
nature of His existence no finite being can be capable of 
fully comprehending. We can only say what it is not ; 
what it is, is without a doubt incomprehensible to the 
highest orders of beings, most favoured with the brightest 
displays of the Divine glory. Even to them He dwells in 
light inaccessible. 

And in like manner respecting the JEternity of the 
living Grod. We can add years to years, and call them 
ages ; we can think of ages after ages (I do not mean 
that we can trace out in full succession the instants which 
compose them, but we can think and speak of them as we 
do of millions, — the imagination cannot form a conception 
of them in their parts, but can think of them as wholes) ; 
in the moments of solitary contemplation, we can imagine 
ages beyond ages, still continuing to pass and to have 
passed without a limit ; and that is all. But this is not 



32 



Sermon III. 



Mernity. All we can say is what it is not ; it is without 
beginning and without end. And this affords field 
enough for the utmost stretch of the human intellect. 
How easily the words pass over our tongues, and how 
easily the immediate meaning of them passes through the 
mind ; but taken in their full comprehension, how vast 
and incomprehensible ! Go as far backwards or forwards 
as we will, in the duration of the ever-living God, we feel 
that we are equally far from its commencement and ter- 
mination ; I shoidd rather say, that we are equally far 
from any notion of a commencement or termination ; that 
all we can think of it is, that it is without beginning and 
that it will have no end. 

And throughout this eternal duration, the Divine Being 
is unchangealle. Here, too, the light in which He dwells is 
inaccessible. Like self -existence, this attribute is invisible, 
incomprehensible. We can form some, though an inade- 
quate, conception of eternal duration ; but the immuta- 
bility of the Divine mind is beyond the utmost stretch of 
thought. We can fhink of matter^ as lasting and change- 
less ; we know that changes do take place in every thing 
we see around us ; but we often see no change. The vast 
expanse of the ocean, though perpetually in motion, 
appears to the eye which contemplates it at a distance, 
unvarying in extent and surface ; the towering mountain, 
or the solid rock, appear to undergo no change : and 
the heavenly luminaries which dispense light and heat to 
unnumbered worlds, present age after age, the same uni- 
form appearance, and to human observation contain no 
seeds of destruction within themselves. But the moment 
we go into the world of mind^ we find all continually 
changing. The succession of events, though not always 



Dwelling in the light inaccessible. 



33 



dissimilar, is obviously different; and the progress of time 
is marked to us in various ways, by tlie changes which 
take place in the lives of others and in our own. But 
thought is ever changing. One idea, by the ever-active 
principle of association, brings on another, in endless and 
rapid succession. With all our boasted powers of com- 
prehension, we cannot make two ideas once the subject 
of our contemplation ; and with our utmost cultivation 
of the abstractive faculty, we cannot detain a single idea in 
the view of the mind, so as to be in all respects the same 
one instant as the following. By self-culture we can 
by degrees learn to confine ourselves to the same subject 
and train of thought for a considerable length of time ; 
but even the recurrence of the same ideas will be per- 
petually interrupted by others, resembling them perhaps 
in their character and effects, but not the same. How 
inconceivable the nature of Him with whom there is no 
variableness nor even the shadow of a change ; to whom 
there is no succession of ideas ; to whom everything that 
has ever been, or ever will be the object of thought, is 
now and at all times equally present. Language fails in 
our endeavours to express ourselves on such a subject; 
all we think and feel implies succession ; and with our 
utmost efforts we seem incapable of forming any concep- 
tion of the nature of that mind which is absolutely un- 
changeable. If any thing can give us a faint glimpse 
into the nature of this inconceivable perfection, it is, — 

The unlimited extent of the Divine comprehension and 
knowledge. Here too the glory is inaccessible, but it is 
the glory of light ; the other is rather the sublimity 
•of obscurity. We feel certain that every event, every 
motion, every thought, of every being in this world, is 

2> 



34 



Sermon III. 



fully known to Him whose knowledge is infinite ; that tlie 
minutest as well as the greatest changes in the situation 
of all the parts of its material structure, and in the 
circumstances of all its animated inhabitants, are all at 
once perceived hy Him. "We extend our thoughts to the 
innumerable worlds which He hath framed ; and feel 
alike certain that the same must be true of them and 
of their inhabitants. "We trace in imagination the ages 
that are past; and we cannot but feel that all that has 
ever taken place throughout this unbounded universe must 
be in the view of the Divine mind, equally with that 
which is now present ; that past and present are only 
notions of the human intellect, whose duration is succesive. 
And (though with more difficulty, because still more out of 
our own experience) we perceive, when we extend our 
view forwards, that everything future must always be 
alike present in the view of Him, to whom a thousand 
years are as one day, who from the beginning discerneth 
the end, whose counsel must stand, and who will do all 
His pleasure. This thought when we dwell upon it, fills 
us with the deepest emotions of wonder and astonishment : 
every change in the natural creation, and every event 
in the moral creation, throughout this and every other 
world, through all eternity, past, present, and to come, 
are all at once and for ever present to the infinite, 
unchangeable comprehension of the Most High. But 
it is inconsistent with no ideas which nature and reve- 
lation teach us of Grod. It follows directly from much 
that the Scriptures do teach us. It is itself a perfection. 
The mind revolts at the idea of limitation. It seems 
impossible to conceive that any limit can be set to 
the Divine comprehension and knowledge; and, with 



Dwelling in the light inaccessible. 



35 



adoring awe, we receive as a sublime, tlLOugh. incompre- 
hensible trntli, that every motion, every thought, every 
change in the natural creation, and every event in the 
moral creation, throughout this and every other world, 
through all eternity, past, present, and to come, are all, 
at once, and for ever present to the infinite, unchange- 
able comprehension of the Most High. 

I might now proceed to speak of the wonders of the 
Creator — how inconceivable the nature of creation, how 
immense the power of Him who spake and it was Jdone, 
how infinite His wisdom, and how unbounded too His 
goodness: but perhaps we have thought sufficiently long 
on those incomprehensible subjects. ilWhat I have said is 
sufficient to show, that we have, in the attributes of the 
one Supreme Being, the noblest subjects' of human con- 
templation, alike exalted and exalting, calculated to raise 
the mind above this world and its transitory concerns, and 
to lead it towards its home, where we shall know ^in 
greater and greater degrees, even as we are known. 

Though the nature and perfections of the One Supreme 
are indeed unsearchable, let not this consideration lead us 
to admit any representations of Him which are^ incon- 
sistent with what is known. Let us never forget the 
declarations of the faithful and true witness, that He 
alone is essentially and perfectly good, that He alone is 
all-wise, that He alone is all-powerful, that He is the only 
true God. Let us not forget the solenm declaration of 
Jehovah himself, There is no God beside me." The 
highest of dependent beings, however exalted above all of 
which we have any conception, must still be infinitely 
below Him who is all-perfect, self-existent, underived, 
independent, and infinite in all His great and incompre- 



36 



Sermon III. 



hensible perfections. He is the blessed and only Poten- 
tate, He only hatli immortality, He is the only wise God, 
incorruptible, unchangeable, everlasting, invisible, su- 
premely great and supremely blessed ; . to Him alone re- 
ligious worship is due ; and His should be our highest, 
best affections of grateful reverence and love. 

But, while thus engaged, let not our intellect become 
confused, and our faith waver. Though the existence and 
attributes of the Almighty are incomprehensible, yet are 
they real. If our conviction of His being and adorable 
perfection staggers, when we minutely contemplate the 
nature of that attribute by which He is at all times every 
where equally present, let us remember that it is enough 
for us, — enough to justify and excite our utmost exertions 
to be steadfast in the way of His commandments,— that 
He is acquainted with our thoughts, that He wiU be 
our Judge, and that He will render unto every one ac- 
cording to his works. If the imagination droops when it 
extends its glance to worlds beyond worlds and systems 
beyond systems, and contemplates all of them, and all 
their parts, and all their inhabitants, with all their varied 
powers and functions, and in all their mutual agencies and 
connections, as all depending upon His power, — let it rest 
in the assurance of him, who hath clearly revealed the 
most essential, perfections and purposes of his Q-od and 
Father, that not a sparrow falleth to the ground with- 
out Him, and that even the hairs of our head are all 
numbered. 

When we leave such sublime meditations, let us never 
forget that this great and glorious Being is, on the 
same authority, called our Father; that we are invited and 
encouraged to entertain towards Him (mixed with that 



Dwelling in the light inaccessible. 



37 



reverence and awe wliicli His perfections must ever inspire 
in the well-disposed mind) the warmest sentiments arising 
from the endearing relation in whicli we stand to Him ; to 
view Him as our all-gracious and merciful Father, as 
ordering all things in wisdom and goodness, as the God of 
love, the Source of consolation, as everything that the 
mind can conceive of that which is excellent, adorable, 
and lovely. Such is the Being with whom we have to do ; 
and shall we not love Him ? shall we not adore Him ? shall 
we not obey Him ? By us may His wiU be done, as by 
those whom He hath favoured with brighter displays of 
His perfections, and a more perfect knowledge of His 
will ; of Him, and by Him are all things ; and to Him, 
the Lord Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible, the only Grod, 
be honour and glory for ever and ever. — Amen. 




SERMON IV. 



LIFE AND IMMOETALITY BEOUGHT TO LIGHT 
BY THE GOSPEL. 



2 TIMOTHY L, 10. 

WHO HATH ABOLISHED DEATH, AND BEOUGHT LIFE AND 
IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL. 

Dear, then, to the noble aspiring mind must be that 
Gospel : dear, too, to the sons of sorrow ! Must those 
vast capacious powers " which lie folded up in man " 
be bounded by the narrow limits of time ? Must they 
cease to exist, often before the discipline to which the 
human soul is usually exposed has commenced ? Often 
before it has brought them to maturity ; — often when some 
pressure has prevented their expansion, or destroyed their 
vigour ; — often when in their full energy of enlarged com- 
prehension, of employment for the welfare of every one 
within their sphere of action ? Must that mind which 
can glance through the vault of heaven, which can pene- 
trate into the works of God, and discover the laws by 
which He directs His almighty operations, which can con- 
template its own wondrous structure, can point its powers, 
and aspire after their unlimited improvement, which from 
the visible can infer the invisible, which can make an un- 
seen, though not an unknown. Being the object of love. 



Life & Immortality, hr ought to light ly the Gospel. 39 



of veneration, of gratitude, of confidence, — must this 
noble principle sink into nothing, become as though it 
had never been ? — and this, too, when its own effects still 
exist, when the plans which, it formed or executed remain 
the everlasting monument of the being of a day, and 
excite the admiration, the respect, the gratitude, of those 
who have been the witnesses of its energies, of its virtue, 
and the objects of its benevolent exertions ? 

No, the creature of a day it cannot be. And yet, 
when the mind coolly contemplates the picture of reality, 
to what different conclusions it is often led, without some 
friendly hand to draw aside the veil which covers the 
recesses of the grave. All that displayed those powers 
ceases to present the delightful spectacle of their effects ; 
and often, ere the lamp of life is extinguished, the bright 
flame of intellect, aye and of affection too, grows dim, 
and seems hovering round, waiting to expire only till the 
messenger of death closes the bodily eyes. The convic- 
tions of those who do not feel the force of the arguments 
by which the natural immortality of the soul has been 
defended, and, I apprehend, the convictions of many who 
do, would seldom stand against such appearances ; still 
less against repeated impressions from the scenes which 
the sick chamber presents ; were they not supported by 
that invaluable revelation which rises in the estimation of 
the soul, the more it is capable of appreciating its im- 
portance. 

Besides, how many are there who pass their life without 
having had any opportunity of calculating the stretch of 
intellect, and who would perhaps be incapable of follow- 
ing it in its daring flights, or even of following the argu- 
ments which arise from the exalted nature of the mental 



40 



Sermon IV. 



powers ; and those, too, among the classes of society to 
whom the doctrine of eternal life is of the greatest im- 
portance as a present solace. 

But, it is urged, the ways of Providence would be 
involved in mystery, were there not to be a future life. 
Where would be the reward of suffering virtue, — where 
the retribution of triumphant vice ? Where the refuge 
for the wretched, — where the consolation for the mourner ? 
Hard must be the heart of him who would snatch away 
the staff which enables the child of affliction to support 
his weary way through the rough journey of life, who 
would shut the gate of future hope, when there was no 
longer the present hope to cheer. But while we have an 
anchor of the soul sure and steadfast, why rest this most 
important belief solely upon an argument, which, however 
powerful it may at times appear to cultivated understand- 
ings, will not prove the point, and which will often fail in 
its effect when the mind is less able to cope with diffi- 
culties, when yet it must need consolation ? For if it be 
consistent with the goodness of an all-wise God to permit 
the appearances which now perplex, whence the proof 
that it is inconsistent with the same goodness, of the same 
all- wise God, to permit the perplexing appearances to con- 
tinue ? If they are unjust, where the pledge for a retri- 
bution from the same direction which now allows them ? 
If they are just, where the ground to hope for a change ? 
What we call evil, what we feel to be evil, certainly 
exists : if its existence is consistent with the goodness of 
God, what reason does it afford for the belief in a future 
life ? — if inconsistent, all natural support of the doctrine 
from this source falls at once. Can it be proved that in 
any one case the sum of pleasing sensations and feelings 



Life & Immortality hrouglit to light hy the Gospel. 41 



is overbalanced by the sum of painful sensations and feel- 
ings ? — can it be proved in any one ease that the kindly 
affections have not on the whole an abundant reward in 
this life ? — and, if so, where the ground for man to com- 
plain of his Maker should this life be all that he has to 
live ? If there be a preponderance of pleasurable sensa- 
tions and feelings among the sons of men, — still more, if 
it cannot be proved that this is otherwise with respect to 
any individual, we only diminish the difficulty, we do not 
remove it, by admitting a future life. 

Let him who has this belief, however, cling to it as an 
invaluable possession. But I would gladly have him 
found his tenure upon the Charter of immortality. If 
God Himself had not informed us of a future life, I 
cannot see that it could reasonably be more than the 
object of hope ; now, it is of confident expectation. It is 
of the first importance to render this doctrine efficacious, 
that the grounds on which it rests should be simple, easy 
to be comprehended by the mind, when its grasp is con- 
tracted by pain or debility or sorrow. It must not rest 
upon a long train of reasoning which perhaps at best is 
but specious, and which, however true, will lose its effi- 
cacy when the vigour which follows it is no more. It 
must not rest upon principles, which, (however readily the 
wish for a future life may countenance them, however 
readily the mind may imbibe them, when it is cheerful and 
active, when all appears gay and joyous,) would often seem 
full of doubt, when gloom depresses, when the mind dis- 
trusts the fairness of its deduction, and dares not admit 
what formerly gave it cheerful animation to believe. But 
let it rest principally on a fact which must be true unless 
God have worked a miracle to deceive His creatures,— let 



42 



Sermon IV. 



it be deemed one grand object of the message from God 
to man by Jesus, — and it will become as inwrought in the 
soul as the belief in Christianity. The appearances which 
confound will cease to affect the mind ; for they cannot 
avail against an express declaration of the Word, the 
faithful Messenger of Grod. His resurrection proved that 
he was commissioned to reveal immortal life ; and if he 
rose, then the hour must come when all that are in their 
graves shall hear his voice and come forth. 

You may have seen, as I have, the feeling timid mind 
oppressed with the frequent survey of the decay of the 
human being, perceiving that all frequently appears ex- 
tinct, incapable of discovering in the last scenes any thing 
that countenances the belief in a natural immortality of 
the soul, and daring not to lay down what ought to be the 
plan of Infinite benevolence ; and you may also have 
witnessed the beam of grateful joy, when the true found- 
ation of the Christian's hope and comfort was pointed out, 
when that connection was admitted, which is indisputably 
just, between the belief of immortal life and the resur- 
rection of the Son of Grod, when the convictions which had 
been eariy implanted, but which derived all their vigour 
from a natural argument for a future life, which had 
therefore withered when exposed to the constant evidence 
of sense and experience, were again revived and invigor- 
ated by the cheering rays of Revelation. 

If I am not solitary in these recollections, neither shall 
I be when I say that I receive with gratitude every con- 
fiirmation of the revealed declarations of the Almighty 
which He has graciously afforded us from the more usual 
denotements of His will ; but, inasmuch as assured hope, 
and confident expectation, in a point so momentous, are 



Life & Immortality hrouglit to light hy the Gospel. 43 



preferable to weak or wavering belief, so mucli do I see 
greater cause for gratitude, that the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus, has, by the gracious message which he 
brought, dispelled all darkness, and, by the astonishing 
display of power in raising him from the dead, has left no 
room for hesitation, that his declarations are to be re- 
garded as the words of the Eather who sent him. Surely 
it requires but unbiassed reflection to admit in its full 
force the assertion of the Apostle, that Jesus hath brought 
Kfe and immortality to light by his Gospel. 

He says also, Jesus ^'hath abolished death." Were it 
not with the hope of rendering clearer words which seem 
to myself somewhat obscure, I would not change an 
expression to which I suppose the best hopes of almost 
every Christian are firmly bound. But Jesus has not 
aholished death ; he came not to abolish it ; he came not to 
make any change in the laws of Providence, but to bring 
them to light, to illustrate and confirm them, where they 
regard the duty and expectations of man. I believe that 
the words would be better translated, ^^who hath rendered 
death powerless." Indisputable is this assertion; for 
the Christian doctrine of a future life, changes the features 
of the gloomy tyrant, and disarms him of his power, in 
proportion as the disciple of Jesus obtains the victory 
over his own heart. Viewed with the light of Christi- 
anity the dark valley of the grave loses its gloom, for it is 
the passage to a new and eternal state of being ; and that 
event which is regarded with dread as cutting ofi every 
source of tranquil happiness, as snapping every tie of 
tenderness, as breaking every project of benevolence, 
wears, under the Christian dispensation, an asjDOct in no 
degree tremendous to him who has fully imbibed the hopes 



44 



Sermon IV. 



of the Gospel. He regards it as the commerLcement of 
eternity, and as deriving its chief importance from that 
connection. If he can look forward with humble hope to 
the approbation of his final Judge, what should shock 
him ? It is but a short night of quiet repose ; and the 
morning of the resurrection will dawn on his view, close 
to the evening of life. And whether his habits of feeling 
have been so happy as to allow the moment of disso- 
lution to lose all its horror, and all its pangs except the 
pang of temporary separation from the objects of affection, 
still death ceases to be regarded as annihilation, and the 
mind is relieved from the gloom without which annihi- 
lation cannot be viewed, except by the indifference and 
apathy of vice or false philosophy. Jesus has not de- 
stroyed death ; but by his life-giving doctrine he hath 
rendered it powerless. As a mighty conqueror he himself 
rose from the^ tomb ; and He who gave him the victory 
over death, will also by him give a like victory to his 
faithful followers. 

Thus far we feel ourselves upon the surest ground ; 
thus far the light of revelation guides us without any 
danger of error. And I believe we are upon sure grounds 
when we further affirm that there will be a general resur- 
rection of ail men ; — a resurrection of eternal life to 
some, of condemnation to others. And if this be ad- 
mitted, another conclusion seems inevitably to follow ; 
which cannot in my opinion be overturned by passages of 
scripture which seem to lead to a different conclusion, but 
which can be fairly interpreted in consistency with this ; — 
that the state of the dead is a state of unconscious 
existence, — that the interval between the moment of death 
and of the resurrection, is passed like the dreamless night 



Life & Immortality Irought to light hy the Gospel. 45 



of the wearied traveller, and like tliat too will appear 
as though it had never been. And to the individual, these 
moments will be as really in close succession as the beats 
of the clock ; for it is too consistent with the nature of the 
mind to admit of a reasonable doubt, that the interval 
which we call moments may to some beings appear ages, 
while those which we call ages appear moments to others. 
All depends, as far as regards the individual, upon the 
succession of thought ; and if that succession be altogether 
suspended, to him there is no time. 

It is grateful, indeed, to the feelings of survivors, 
to believe that those whom we have lost are removed to a 
state of immediate bliss, that they are perhaps permitted 
to survey our conduct, and to watch over those whom they 
have loved, and for whom they have wept and prayed in 
this vale of sin and suffering." And from those who have 
this belief, I have no wish to take it away. But few there 
are, who cannot read with placid pleasure, there the 
weary are at rest ; " and few, when they consider how 
much the mind which has not expanded into full compre- 
hension grieves at the follies and vices of those who are 
objects of its knowledge, would wish to interpose such 
ideas to disturb that rest, still less to disturb a state of 
conscious bliss. It is grateful, too, to those who view 
with general resignation, but yet with momentary doubt, 
the various dispensations which remove from the scene of 
useful, of expanded benevolent exertion, those whose 
whole vigour was devoted to the cause of God and man, 
to think that the change is to them blissful ; but to them 
the intervening interval is nothing, and the idea in no way 
removes the difficulty arising from suspension of use- 



46 



Sermon IV. 



fulness to the world. Here, as in many other instances, 
we must trust where we cannot trace. 

To the individual who has passed the bourn, it can 
mate no difference what will be the nature of his resur- 
rection. But such is not the case with the survivor. 
When we visit the graves of those who have walked in 
the path of holiness, if sorrow is not overwhelming, we 
feel a soothing emotion. They sleep as Jesus did ; and 
God will bring them with him. They lie under the 
smile of Heaven; and with the certainty of a resur- 
rection to eternal life." 

"With respect to the nature of the happiness which 
will be conferred on those who have acted agreeably to 
the talents which they possess, and of the misery which 
will be the portion of those who have neglected to im- 
prove them, Christianity speaks only in general terms. 
And wisely ; — for the attempt to particularize would have 
led to the adoption of language, which in many minds 
would have had no power, and which would have bounded 
the now unlimited expectation of all. As to those who 
have here departed from the path of holiness, I look for- 
ward to a period when, after age-lasting punishment, they 
shall all be brought into the fold of heaven. But the idea 
is more consoling to the good mind than it can be to the 
bad ; for the representations of Scripture, the only guide 
which we can here follow with certainty, lead us neces- 
sarily to the inference, that those who have not here been 
led by the discipline of Providence into the way of 
righteousness, will undergo discipline in another state 
of being which will be tremendously awful ; and which, 
in comparison with any present pain, will be infinitely 



Life & Immortality hrought to light hy the Gospel. 47 



agonizing in acuteness and duration. And, if we regard 
the state of bliss whicli Jesus hath, brought to light, as a 
progressive one, then it indisputably follows that this 
punishment of the wicked will last through eternity ; for 
through eternity they will be behind those in excellence 
and happiness, with whom they might have gone hand 
in hand in every stage of their progress. 

It appears that we have abundant reason for the 
belief, that, whatever becomes of the more corruptible 
frame, all that constitutes the individual man, his habits 
of thought and of affection, will revive ; and I know not 
how we can form a more exalted or more probable idea of 
a future state of immortal happiness, than by considering 
it as employed in the expansion and improvement, in the 
refinement and invigoration, of all that has here con- 
stituted real worth. The same beings whom we have seen 
quietly resigning their breath to Him who gave it, whom 
we have followed to the silent tomb, who sleep as Jesus 
did, and who now live only in the heart of friendship 
or gratitude or affection, and in the comprehensive mind 
of Him to whom a thousand years are as one day, will rise 
with all their capacities of enjoyment and improvement in 
their full vigour, with all those obstacles to enjoyment and 
improvement removedlwhich have here sometimes checked 
progress, and sometimes|perhaps finally impeded it before 
the term of bodily health. Those who have decayed with 
age, or been worn out by the constant pressure of af- 
fliction, or by the rapid progress of disease, will rise with 
renovated life, with feelings no longer oppressed by suf- 
fering, or by dread of sin the worst of evils, — holding 
communion with the Father of Spirits, without those clogs 
which have interrupted their devotions, which made them 



48 



Sermon IV. 



sometimes fear that they were not the followers of God, — 
joining the heavenly society, composed of just men made 
perfect, and Jesns who led them to eternal life, — and 
spending their eternity in the blissful approbation of their 
Almighty Friend. 

To this happy state may we all aspire ; and, in the 
awful day of retribution, may we be admitted with those 
whom we have loved, to dwell with God for ever. 

May we not go further and say, — living in the inter- 
change of those more "confined charities on which their 
general benevolence was founded, by which it was con- 
firmed and invigorated, which here prompted to the 
noblest efforts, and constituted the greatest share of those 
feelings of joy which, arising from temporal objects, 
acknowledged a relationship with those which had their 
origin in God ? It must be so. The soul which has here 
glowed with disinterested regard to the beings whom God 
had given to be led in the ways of holiness, which was 
willing to devote all its powers to their welfare, and to 
employ and improve them so as to lead them to live 
according to the great purposes of their being, has formed 
feelings and affections which individualize it, and which 
must revive when it awakes at the morning of the resur- 
rection, and which will probably constitute one grand 
source of happiness in eternity. I know not why we 
should not admit a belief that those who are here guides 
and companions in the way of holiness, or who were 
pointed out by Providence as such, should not resume their 
.situation in the abode of the righteous, and be in like 
manner occupied through eternity, without those impedi- 
ments which here so often fill the mind with anxiety. 
"Why should we hesitate to admit the belief that those who 



lAfe, & Immortality hrouglit to light hy the Gospel. 49 



have founded their warmest affections towards man on the 
basis of religion, who have here studied the welfare of the 
small circle of friends, on principles which disinterested- 
ness can acknowledge, will again enjoy those feelings 
when the short interruptions of the grave are over ; that 
those who have travelled together in the journey of life, 
have shared each other's griefs, each other's joys, have 
aided each other in the way heavenward, will to- 
gether share those joys which the gracious Father has 
promised to present continuance in well-doing, and 
heighten them hy participation ? I know not why we 
should doubt that the affection which sprung up first in the 
human soul, which grows with its growth, which has been 
cidtivated with care when the more constant calls for it 
have ceased, which has been made the affection of duty, 
and risen when the affection of circumstances would have 
left little traces of its former existence, which has em- 
ployed the efforts in smoothing the last stage of life, in 
supporting the trembling frame, and cheering the droop- 
ing spirit, — that this ennobling animating affection should 
not have its full share in the character, and constitute 
a full portion in the bliss of the inhabitant of Heaven, 
where it has done so in the inhabitant of earth. 

The mind may sometimes dwell upon the expanded 
benevolence which Christianity holds out to our view, — 
and which, as constituting one grand branch of excellence, 
must form an essential part of the feelings of joy of those 
who attain the happiness of the good, — and may be led to 
suppose that all other more limited feelings will be 
swallowed up in this. But we need feel no difficulty. 
All that constitutes true worth of intellect and affection 
here, must make a part of the character in heaven ; it is 

E 



50 



Sermon IV. 



indisputable that we love all more as we love some more, 
if our affection be such as should survive the wreck of 
time ; and— what puts the matter beyond all doubt in my 
mind — Jesus, whose benevolence was unbounded, and who 
had reached heights which it may acquire ages for his 
followers to gain, acknowledged and felt the character of 
friend and son. 

Let it be our care, my fellow Christians, to improve the 
gift of God by Jesus ; that at the great day of the resur- 
rection, we ma}^ be found worthy to rejoin those whom we 
have loved and revered here, and dwell with them for 
ever. 



SERMON V. 



OPEN AVOWAL OF EELIOIOIfS TEUTH. 



jMAEK VIIL, 38. 

"whoeyeb theeefoue shall be ash.vmed oe me .vxd of 
my ^ords, in this adulterous axd sijstul gexer- 
atiox, oe him also shall the sox oe ma^^" be ashamed, 
whex he cometh ix the glory oe his father, "with 
the holy axgels. 

SixcE God hatli appointed a day in wHcli He will judge 
the world in righteousness, by that man whom He hath 
ordained, it cannot but be a matter of serious concern to 
every one who is heartily convinced of this most impor- 
tant truth, to ascertain the rules by which the decisions of 
that day will be guided. And, when he has ascertained 
them, it cannot be a matter of indifference to him, whether 
or not his conduct and dispositions so far agree with them, 
that he may hope to stand approved before his Lord. 

Persons may, from habitual thoughtlessness or gaiety 
of heart, pass over the momentous truths of the Gospel, 
without being much affected by them. They may even 
make them the object of levity, alike injurious and 
criminal. But those who do seriously believe, that Jesus 
Christ spake the words of the Father who sent him, 
cannot think of these things, without at least a momentary 



52 Sermon V. 

^ < 

impression. They may be too often driven from the heart, 
by the cares and pleasures of life ; but ^hen, (by any of 
those means which God has been graciously pleased to 
appoint, in the course of His moral government, to influ- 
ence the hearts of His creatures,) those truths are brought 
home to the mind, they lead us — they can scarcely fail to 
lead us — to thought and reflection ; and the solicitous in- 
quiry is excited, whether we are steadily endeavouring to 
regulate our hearts and lives by the precepts of Jesus, 
and agreeably to his Divine example. 

It is not perhaps one of the least advantages attending 
the usual religious services of the House of prayer, that 
those thoughts and reflections are often introduced bj^ 
them into the mind, — not which suit our dispositions, or 
which, by defective views of duty, or by dwelling upon 
those worthy qualities which we really possess, flatter us 
into security as to our moral condition, — but which tend 
to enliven the conscience, to make it more susceptible and 
more powerful, to show us those duties in which we are 
negligent, to warn us of our errors and our dangers. In 
our private readings, we are too apt to slur over, or alto- 
gether neglect, those truths which would condemn us ; 
but the representations of the pulpit, however little 
founded upon individual circumstances, must often be 
capable of individual application ; and, where there is a 
right disposition, they will lead the hearer to try his own 
mental state by the principles of the Gospel, and thus 
correct, improve, and confirm it. 

The connection of my text is briefly as follows. A 
few weeks previously to the crucifixion of our Lord, he 
went with his disciples into the more solitary parts of 
Galilee, and there inquired of them the opinion of the 



Open avowal of religious truth. 



53 



people concerning him, and also their own opinion. This 
led the ardent Peter to a distinct avowal of his conviction, 
that he was the Christ the Son of the living God. J esns 
then immediately began to disclose to them the shame and 
sufferings which he was about to undergo ; and after- 
wards, in the presence of the multitude, he inculcated 
self-denial, and pointed out the necessity of their being 
ready to give up everything at the call of duty. Attach- 
ment to his cause would, he knew, expose them to the 
greatest worldly privations and sufferings ; and, with 
friendly wisdom, he endeavoured to prepare them for the 
trial, by furnishing them with those views which would 
lead them to regard worldly pains and losses as of com- 
paratively little consequence, and worldly ease and plea- 
sure as despicable, if to be purchased at the expense of 
their faithfulness to him. He brings into distinct prospect 
the transactions of that day, when, under the appointment 
of his God and Father, he will render unto every man 
according to his works ; and, to counteract the influence of 
that false shame, which he knew would lead many to be 
faithless, and make the love of more wax cold, he shows 
them the unutterable disgrace and woe which must be the 
lot of those, who are here ashamed of him and of his 
words. ^ ^ Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my 
words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he 
Cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels." 

It is not difiicult to perceive the force of our Saviour's 
words. They clearly and obviously point out at that 
desertion of him, or of his principles, which arises from 
the fear of censure and disgrace, or from the desire of 
obtaining the praise or good opinion of others. "We are 
ashamed of Jesus and of his words, if, from loving the 



54 



Sermon V. 



praise of men more than the praise of God, or fearing the 
displeasure of men more than the disapprobation of Grod, 
we deny or conceal our belief in Jesus as the Sent of 
God: — if, from these motives, we neglect those duties 
which he requires, or join in any practices which are 
inconsistent with the spirit of his religion : — if, from these 
motives, we countenance and encourage words or actions 
which tend to injure the Christian faith or practice of 
others : — or if from these motives we conceal, or directly 
disavow, those religious opinions which we feel convinced 
are Christian truth, or, by our words or actions, counten- 
ance and encourage those which we believe to be incon- 
sistent with the doctrines of the Gospel, and to be in 
consequence directly or indirectly injurious to the Spritual 
welfare of mankind. 

I would not be understood to maintain that all these 
are equally sinful, and equally exposed to the fulfilment 
of the solemn censure passed by our Lord. He who has 
appointed him to judge the living and the dead, will 
doubtless enable him to award to every one in exact pro- 
portion to his deserts : and the punishment of the neglect 
or desertion of principle arising from false shame, cannot 
but depend in part upon the circumstances which tend 
to aggravate or lessen the sinfulness of such neglect or 
desertion, upon the degree of it, upon the continuance 
of it, upon the weakness or baseness of the motives which 
lead to it, &c. But I do not see how we can hesitate 
to admit, that every instance in which, from the influence 
of worldly honour or shame, we neglect or desert our 
Christian principles, (whether these directly or indirectly 
affect the practice,) is an instance in which we are ashamed 
of Jesus or his words ; nor how, with the Christian rule 



Open avowal of religious truth. 



55 



of life as our guide, ^e can liope that >suc]i sinful sliame 
will escape its proportionate punishment. We may 
qualify our conduct to ourselves ; we may plead imaginary 
necessity as our excuse ; or, in other ways, endeavour to 
lessen our culpability. But it cannot be too much remem- 
bered, in this as in every other branch of conduct, that 
we may tamper with our consciences, till we make them, 
for a time at least, speak what language we please. We 
cannot, however, alter the nature of right and wrong. 
We cannot much lower the standard of Christian duty. 
In the admirable words of Lindsey, God does not want 
our sinful acts.'' It never can be necessary for us to do 
what duty forbids ; and we may satisfactorily indulge the 
fullest conviction, that, under the righteous government of 
our all-wise, all-gracious Father, it will always be best 
for us, and for others too, to do what we know to ]je His 
wiU. 

Where a person is seriously affected by the truths 
of the Gospel, so as to be somewhat under the influence of 
religious principle, his regard to what he considers as 
Christian faith and practice, may be manifested, and will 
manifest itself, in various ways : and where that manifes- 
tation is in any degree voluntary, we call it a Christian 
profession. Whatever actions or course of conduct have a 
direct tendency to manifest his regard to religion, to the 
Christian religion, and to that one of the forms under 
which it appears, which he deems most accordant with the 
Scriptures, these form a part of his religious or Christian 
profession. — In this view, all peculiarities of dress, of 
language, or of manners, which are adopted from any 
religious views, are a part of a religious profession. In 
like manner, the regular discharge of the duties of family 



56 



Sermon V. 



or social worship, is a part of a religious profession. The 
compliance with the ordinances of the Christian religion, 
is a part of a Christian profession. And, in like manner, 
uniting in any thing which tends to encourage and extend 
those principles of belief which he regards as Christian 
truth, is a part of his Christian profession. 

The times are passed away, when the rack, the gibbet, 
and the flames, were employed to terrify the weak into 
a desertion of their religious profession, and to induce 
them to blaspheme that worthy name by which they were 
called. Worldly sufferings and disgrace are not now 
openly employed to make men ashamed of Jesus and his 
words. Yet there still are many circumstances of general 
occurrence, or which particularly affect individuals, which 
tend powerfully, and too often successfully, to weaken the 
attachment of Christian professors to that cause which 
they once viewed as the cause of truth and duty ; to lead 
to compliances which their consciences, when pure and 
unbiassed by worldly motives, would have viewed as de- 
partures from the strict line of Christian sincerity and 
uprightness. In some instances, worldly advantages are 
unnecessarily, and therefore unjustly, (and at any rate in- 
juriously,) made to depend upon the profession of certain 
religious sentiments : and the direct effect of this has 
been, in thousands of instances, to make men temporisers, 
if not hypocrites ; and, in thousands more, to connect 
with religion desires and affections which have nothing to 
do with it, and which debase its value and its efficacy. 

But the more general way in which a religious pro- 
fession is hindered, weakened, or destroyed, is through the 
fear of censure or shame. The good opinion of those 
with whom we have intercourse, is generally so important 



Open awival of religious truth, 57 



to oiir comfort, and very frequently even to our usefulness, 
that we are reasonably affected by tbe desire of obtaining 
it, and of avoiding their censures : and where we are 
so happy as to mix principally with the truly worthy part 
of society, the desire of their approbation, and the ap- 
prehension of their disapprobation, are really valuable 
auxiliaries to the higher motives to the practice of duty. 
But not unfrequently, or rather very frequentty, the 
feelings of honour and shame have a directly contrary 
effect. Except among the most depraved, the virtues 
which directly and obviously benefit society, are indeed 
approved of and the contrary vices reprobated: but 
among an extensive class, the gay, the frivolous, and 
the ambitious, (those whose chief pursuits are worldly 
pleasures and advantages,) all the higher virtues, all 
which naturally spring from religious principle, and par- 
take of a religious character, and especially all strict 
attention to them, are very generally the object of con- 
tempt; and those who practise them must expect to be 
regarded by such persons as precise, formal, and even 
hypocritical. It requires considerable firmness of prin- 
ciple to maintain a religious profession in the circles of 
gaiety and fashion. The customs of those circles are little 
accordant with a due attention to the usual exercises of 
such a profession ; and still less so, the too common 
dispositions of those who move in them. Totally un- 
accustomed to calculate the supreme importance of re- 
ligious objects, the peculiarities which are connected with 
a religious profession excite their smiles ; and by degrees 
they join in the silent sneer, or in the open ridicule, with 
which their companions may treat those who dare to wear 
the appearances of religion. 



58 



Sermon V. 



Among persons less thoughtless, and more depraved, 
every effort is often intentionally made, to make the pro- 
fessor of religion ashamed of his profession : and among 
those from whom better things might be hoped for, who 
have a general sense of duty and regard to it, there is too 
often a great disposition to shun, and even to treat with 
contempt and ridicule, all appearance of strict regard 
to religious duty. They are themselves afraid to be 
thought righteous over much, and they make others afraid 
of it too. 

But where the desire of the world's good opinion, and 
the fear of worldly shame and censure, do not prevent or 
check a general religious profession, they often have this 
effect with respect to the peculiarities of religious pro- 
fession. Christians still persecute each other, by their 
obloquy and their denunciations : and, to make a religious 
profession, agreeably to what a person believes to be 
religious truth, often requires considerable fortitude and 
steadiness of principle. The truly religious man, unless 
his mind be deplorably prejudiced, will always respect the 
conscientious profession of another, even where it widely 
differs from his own. But among the great bulk of those 
who make some profession of religion, it is too common to 
treat with contemptuous affectation of superiority, those 
who do not follow the multitude, who do not worship 
Grod in the most fashionable way ; or most harshly 
to . censure and revile those who leave what they think 
orthodoxy. From these causes, operating upon weak 
minds, upon persons who may possess some religious 
principle, but who are too desirous of standing well 
in the opinion of the world, forgetting that the love 
of the world is often at enmity with God, — such per- 



Open avoiml of religious truth. 



sons have often from these causes been knoTvn to desert 
a profession which the}' once might have honoured, 
ashamed to rank among those who have little worldly 
honour and respectability to confer, and who are (as thej^ 
think) regarded so little by those who have the power and 
grandeur of the world in their hand. And numbers, from 
similar hopes and fears, have failed to avow their pro- 
fession, and have carefully hidden their sentiments, or 
have at least neglected to employ those talents, by which 
what they really regarded as religious truth might be 
widely diffused. 

And here I may add, that the neglect of the profession 
of what we believe to be Christian truth, really arising 
from motives of worldly fear or polic}^, is often counte- 
nanced and supported by an opinion, that all peculiarities 
of Christian belief are alike unimportant, and that, while 
men live as Christians, it is of no consequence what they 
believe. Without a doubt, Christian obedience is the 
grand point ; and among all religious sects and parties, 
there are those who act up to, and adorn, their profession 
as Christians. But this opinion, to those who fairly con- 
sider it, without selfish prepossessions, must in my appre- 
hension appear to be unfounded, as respects alike the 
nature of religious error, and the dispensations of the 
Grod of truth. — 'V^Tiere it finds a tendency to religious 
indifference, it gives countenance to it ; and it often pro- 
duces indifference where it does not find it. And, accord- 
ingly, it is a very prevalent maxim, among those who have 
not learnt to regard the knowledge and practice of the 
will of Grod, as such, as our grand concern as accountable 
beings. 

Indifference has no real connection with candour ; 



60 



Sermon V. 



though it often puts on its specious name. We may he 
too eager ahout points of faith ; we may lay too much 
stress upon all adopting our own opinions as to Christian 
doctrine ; but, where there is an indifference as to the 
peculiarities of religious belief, (except in very singular 
cases,) it will generally be found to spring from, or to 
cherish, great indifference as to religious principle and 
practice. And, because it has so direct and almost uni- 
versal a connection with it, I would rather see some 
mixture of bigotry with our zeal, than a carelessness as 
to the truth or falsehood of those opinions which we 
regard as Christian doctrine. If God has been pleased to 
reveal His will and purposes to mankind, he who possesses 
an honest heartfelt desire to know and do His will, ought 
to think nothing unimportant which affects his own views, 
or those of others, as to that revelation : and, since in- 
difference as to religious truth is so common among the 
indolent and lukewarm professors of religion, and still 
more openly among those who care but little for those 
things, those who have at heart obedience to the Divine 
will, should be on their guard against the chilling effects 
of that indifference ; and, whatever obloquy they may 
subject themselves to, they should deem it as their 
bounden duty to endeavour, according to their abilities 
and opportunities, to know the truth as it is in Jesus, and 
to make their knowledge subservient to their progress in 
religious practice. 

The desire of worldly honour, the dread of worldly 
shame, necessarily spring up in the human heart. — They 
are often useful aids of virtue : and, when well regulated, 
they are justifiable motives to action. But the circum- 
stances of man as a social being, and the general processes 



Open avowal of religious truth. 



61 



of education, give them a degree of influence, wMcii often 
fetters the mind to the objects of sense, and excludes the 
influence of the highest affections of our nature. The 
fear of singularity often operates so powerfully, that even 
the religious principle itself experiences its benumbing 
influence : and persons by whose light others might have 
been led into the paths of peace, conceal it, and thus, as 
far as the world around them is concerned, destroy its 
efficacy. This dread of singularity may arise from real 
humility, as well as from the fear of worldly shame. But 
the humble follower of Jesus should remember, that his 
master expects that his light should so shine, that others 
may be led to glorify our Heavenly Father ; and those 
who habitually neglect acknowledged duties through false 
shame, should bear in mind, that of them Jesus has 
declared that he shall be ashamed when he cometh to 
judge the world. 

Before I conclude, I would observe in the first place, 
that the prevalence of conduct which is inconsistent with 
a steady obedience to Jesus, and regard to his truths and 
precepts, will furnish no excuse for us in the last great 
day. Though the world around us presents degrees of 
wickedness which cannot but deeply affect the heart of the 
religious man, — though the attachment of many to Christ 
and his cause is weakened or destroyed by the abounding 
iniquity, — and though temporal motives too often tend to 
lead us all astray from the path of Christian duty, — yet, 
blessed be God, we have not the same difficulties to sur- 
mount with the first disciples. They did indeed live in a 
wicked and adulterous generation, when every worldly 
inducement was against their adherence to their Lord : 
and yet, even then, Jesus declared, that of those who 



62 



Sermon V. 



should Le ashamed of him and his words, he should be 
ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father. — 
We ma.y think, and justly, that, in themselves considered, 
our departures from his cause are little in comparison with 
that complete desertion of it, by which some few at that 
time made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience ; but 
let us also bear in mind, that neither can our temptations 
to be ashamed of him and his words, bear the slightest 
comparison with theirs. 

Secondly^ — The same prospects which Jesus held out to 
his immediate disciples are ours ; and should be made our 
habitual motives to support our resolution under those 
smaller difficulties, perplexities, and privations, which 
may accompany a steady attachment to the cause of truth 
and duty. Whoever shall confess me before men, I also 
will confess him before my Father that is in heaven: 
but whosoever shall deny me before men, I also will 
deny him before my Father that is in heaven." — As 
I before observed, he who was in all points tempted 
like as we are, will without a doubt be enabled exactly to 
appreciate the degree of worth or depravity of each one's 
character : and it does not become us to judge others ; — 
to their own Master they must stand or fall. But for our 
own guidance, let us bear in mind, that a conscientious 
attachment to religion is indisputably our duty ; and 
whenever, and in whatever way, we desert our religious 
profession, we so far expose ourselves to the awful censure 
of our Lord. 

Let me add in the third and last place, that it is a 
delightful consideration, that every effort we make to 
bend our hearts and lives to the obediencQ of Christ, 
every sacrifice we make of selfish feelings and inclinations 



Open avowal of religious truth. 



63 



to tlie sacred calls of duty, every instance in which we 
proceed in our Christian course, in opposition to diffi- 
culties and discouragements, not only increases the firm- 
ness and purity of our religious affections and principles, 
and thus promotes our eternal welfare, but will of itself 
meet with the approbation of that Great Being, who is 
acquainted with every emotion of our souls, and con- 
tribute to give us that peace which the world cannot give 
or take away, which will smooth our present difficulties 
and exertions, and give tranquillity in nature's last con- 
flict. — Therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, 
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 



SERMON VL 



THE ESSENTIAL DOCTEINES OF THE GOSPEL. 



1 PETEE, III., 15, 16. 

BUT SANCTIFY THE LORD GOD IN YOUR HEARTS ; AND BE 
READY ALWAYS TO GIVE AN ANSWER TO ' EVERY MAN 
THAT A§KETH YOU A REASON OE THE HOPE THAT IS IN 
YOU, WITH MEEKNESS AND FEAR: HAVING A GOOD CON- 
SCIENCE; THAT WHEREAS THEY SPEAK EVIL OF YOU AS 
OF EVIL DOERS, THEY MAY BE ASHAMED THAT FALSELY 
ACCUSE YOUR GOOD CONVERSATION IN CHRIST. 

The object of the aged Apostle, in this excellent epistle 
was, to strengthen the faith of the Christians in Asia 
Minor; to direct them to the animating prospects of the 
Gospel ; to cheer them under the persecutions which they 
were enduring for the cause of Christ ; and to urge them 
to maintain that purity and propriety of conduct, which 
might put their enemies to shame, or at least might 
support their own hearts under their trials, and, while 
suffering according 'to the will of God, enable them to 
commit their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful 
Creator. 

The epistle abounds in weighty instruction and en- 
couragement, suited not only to the peculiar circumstances 
of the first Christians, but to Christians of every age. It 
is full of evangelical motives and directions. It shows us 



Tlie Essential Doctrines of the Gospel. 



65 



our duty as disciples of Ckrist ; and it encourages and 
urges us to activity and watclifulness in the Christian 
course, and to be holy in all manner of conversation. 

To what hope the Apostle refers in the interesting and 
instructive passage which I have chosen for my text^ must 
be obvious to every thoughtful reader of the epistle. 

Blessed be the God and Pather of our Lord Jesus 
Christ/' (are his words near the beginning of it,) ^^who 
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again, 
unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away.' This hope was to be the 
anchor of their souls, sure and steadfast: and he directs 
them to it, in order to excite them to holy fear and reso- 
lution, as well as grateful joy. For this hope of nnal 
blessedness, they had indeed the best foundation ; and he 
urges them to be always prepared to show that they had 
not embraced the Gospel without good reason ; that while 
they sacrificed every thing on earth to the cause of that 
Saviour whom they loved, they could rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory, believing that when the chief 
Shepherd shall appear, they should receive a crown of 
glory which fadeth not away. 

The origina.1 import of the text can scarcely be mis- 
imderstood; but I propose to accommodate it to the cir- 
cumstances in which those stand, who, as Unitarian 
Christians, through adlierence to what they deem the truth 
as it is in Jesus, are in these days so commonly spoken 
against. The directions in my text appear to me pecu- 
liarly applicable to our own case ; and under the severest 
difficulties and trials which we may experience from 
obedience to what we think the dictates of Christian truth, 

p 



66 



Sermon VI. 



we may imagine the aged Aopostle as sajdng to us — Pear 
not, neither Tbe ye dismayed ; but sanctify the Lord Grod in 
your hearts. Let him be your stay and your confidence. 
Let the fear of him be placed in opposition to the fear of 
the world. Entertain a cheerful confidence in his favour, 
while in the way of well-doing. Be assured that he will 
eventually make the truth of Christ prevail over all op- 
position. And while, in imitation of that Master who 
came into the world to bear witness to the truth, you 
do what in you lies to promote the diffusion of it, remem- 
ber that God's time is best, and attempt not to hasten 
it by any means inconsistent with His will. Sanctify Him 
in your hearts ; and let holy fear and filial love pre- 
serve you in the way of His commandments. Impressed 
with a deep sense of religious duty, seek for divine truth 
as a pearl of great price ; and when you see reason for 
the serious conviction that you have found it, be ever 
ready, with mildness and with respect, to give to those 
who desire it, the grounds and reasons of your faith. 
Above all, exercise yourselves to have always a good 
conscience towards God and towards man ; that by your 
Christian lives and conversation, you may put to shame 
the censures of prejudice or ill-will ; and by the silent but 
impressive efficacy of example, promote that cause which, 
to the good man's mind, must be paramount to every 
other, — the cause of Christian truth and duty, the cause 
of Christ, the cause of God. 

Under, I hope, the influence of the apostolic direction, 
I am desirous, this evening, to lay before you a statement 
of the essential doctrines of Unitarian Christianity. 

I. "We entertain, and desire to cherish, a steady and 
operative faith in God, as a Being all-wise, all-holy, all- 



The Essential Doctrines of the Gospel. 



67 



powerful, and all- just — our Creator and Preserver, in 
Whom we live, and move, and have our being — of Whom, 
through Whom, and unto Whom are all things — the 
Creator and Preserver of all worlds and all beings, yet 
perfectly acquainted with the minutest event, and taking 
care of the meanest of His creatures — the Great Being 
with Whom we have to do. Who is the present witness of 
all our actions, to Whom all our thoughts and dispositions 
are fully kaown, and Who will one day render unto every 
man according as his works have been. 

On this great and glorious Being, we know that we 
are constantly and absolutely dependent, for existence and 
for every blessing, in this life and in that which is to 
come ; that it is by His grace we are what we are ; that 
we are undeserving the least of His mercies ; and that 
when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants. 
We know that it is our highest duty, with himiility 
and godly fear, to obey His will, to seek His favour, 
to love Him with all our hearts, to submit with confiding 
resignation to His afflictive dispensations, to fear and 
honour and serve and glorify Him. We know that it is our 
highest privilege to trust in Him as the greatest, the 
wisest, and the best of all beings ; and, in the way of 
well-doing, to cast all our cares upon Him, under a full 
conviction that He will make all things work together for 
good to those who love Him. We regard it as ahke our 
privilege and our duty, to hold communion with the 
Pather of our spirits by prayer, and by devout medi- 
tation on His works, and dealings, and word ; to cherish a 
grateful sense of His mercies ; and by supplication, with 
thanksgiving, to make known our wants imto God. We 
rejoice in the light which He hath afforded us of His will 



68 



Sermon VI. 



and purposes respecting mankind. We know that we are 
sinful creatures ; we pretend to no merit of our own ; and 
we look for tke remission of our sins, and tke salvation of 
our souls, in that way, and on those terms, according 
to which He has been pleased to offer them to us. 

Respecting the nature of those terms, we leave many 
of our fellow-Christians, because we think that they leave 
the teachings of those who were themselves taught of Grod : 
but we trust that we, as well as they, are solicitous to 
know what God requireth at our hands : and that we are 
perfectly disposed to accept of the offer of salvation, in 
whatever way, and on whatever terms. He hath seen fit to 
make it. To know what these are, however, we cannot 
bow to human authority ; but regard it as our duty to 
seek for them, with seriousness, humility, and diligence, 
in the Holy Scriptures. And this leads me to observe, 

II. That we regard the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament, as containing a faithful record of divine reve- 
lation ; and, in particular, that the New Testament con- 
tains a faithful record of all-important revelation which 
God made to mankind by Jesus Christ. We regard the 
Scriptures as the sole authoritative rule of faith and duty; 
we know that they are able to make us wise u.nto salva- 
tion ; we know that they will guide us to life everlasting ; 
and it is our earnest desire and endeavour to ascertain 
what they teach, and what they enjoin. In doing this, we 
are desirous to avail ourselves of all the light which 
learned and eminent men have thrown upon the sacred 
writings ; to know what the Apostles and Evangelists really 
wrote, and to ascertain as nearly as we can what they 
meant. When difficulties occur, we compare scripture 
with scripture ; and believing that revealed truth cannot 



The Essential Doctrines of the Gospel. 



69 



be inconsistent with itself, we hold, that whatever, through, 
the imperfection of human language, is obscure, or of 
doubtful meaning, ought, in reason and common sense, to 
be interpreted by the clear and express declarations of the 
Scriptures in other parts. But we are convinced that the 
grand truths of religion are written in the sacred page in 
characters so legible that the wayfaring man need not err 
therein; and we doubt not that whoever comes to the 
Scriptures, with an honest desire to know and to do 
the will of God, will be led by them into all needful 
truth, — that they will be a lamp unto his feet and a light 
unto his path. In interpreting the Scriptures, we cannot 
bow to the decisions of any human authority ; but in 
reverence for divine revelation, and for the Scriptures 
as containing that revelation, as containing the word of 
God, we wish to yield to none of our fellow-Christians. 
We regard the glorious Gospel of the ever-blessed God, 
as His unspeakable gift to the children of men. And, 

III. "We agree with our fellow-Christians much more 
than many of them are aware, respecting the character 
and offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in 
his divine authority, in the divinity of his doctrines and 
his mission, — that he was the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. We seek for no other foundation on which 
to rest our hopes here and hereafter, than that which is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ. We believe that God mani- 
fested himself in and by him; that he is the image of 
the invisible God, — since in and by him the glorious per- 
fections of God were eminently displayed, and His wisdom, 
goodness, and mercy manifested to mankind. We know 
that he set us a perfect example of sinless excellence ; and 
we contemplate his character with admiring veneration. — 



70 



Sermon VI. 



We believe that he gave himself for us to redeem us from 
all iniquity ; that he executed the purposes of grace and 
mercy for which he came into the world, at the expense of 
every worldly privation and sacrifice ; that to fulfil those 
purposes he voluntarily submitted unto death, even the 
death of the cross ; and that being made perfect through 
suffering, he became the author of an eternal salvation to 
all that obey him. And thus viewing him, as, under God, 
our Saviour and Redeemer, — as bearing all, and enduring 
all, in obedience to the will of Grod, and laying down his 
life for our sates, — we, too, glory in the cross of Christ, 
and feel that he is entitled to the warmest gratitude and 
love. 

But we follow our Saviour from Calvary to the throne 
of God — from that period when he was despised and 
rejected of men, to his exaltation. We see the stone 
which the builders refused, become the head of the corner; 
that same Jesus who was crucified, raised, by the mighty 
power of God, exalted by His right hand to be a Prince 
and a Saviour, appointed to be Lord of the dead and of 
the living, to raise the dead, and to judge the world. 
And viewing him as our Lord and Master, as appointed by 
God to be our spiritual Sovereign and our final Judge, we 
feel that he is entitled to our reverence, our faith, and our 
submissive obedience. It is our earnest desire to bear his 
image in our hearts, to imbibe and cherish his spirit, to 
walk in his steps, to keep his commandments, and to abide 
in his love. We earnestly desire to be his, living and 
dying, at the last great day, and for ever. And when we 
hear the denunciations of bigotry, or the assertions of 
ignorance, against us, we feel disposed to adopt the 
language of the Apostle, and say, If any man trust 



The Essential Doctrines of the Gospel. 



71 



to Hmself that lie is Ckrist's, let him of himself think this 
again, that as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's." 

Those who are already convinced that these great 
principles are the doctrine of the Gospel, let me urge 
. to act up to their profession and privileges. You have, 
my friends, an animating conviction that your cause is the 
cause of God and Christ ; and you look forward with 
satisfaction to the period, (which the attributes of the God 
of truth, and the express declarations of prophecy, en- 
courage you to expect,) when Jehovah shall be king over 
the whole earth;" when Jehovah shall be one and 
his name one when aU men shall bow the knee to the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and every 
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of God even the Father." Let it be your endeavour, 
as you have opportunity, to contribute to this great end, 
and to diffuse the knowledge and practice of the Gospel. 

You have clear and unembarrassing ideas of the great 
Object of worship : you have no ground for doubt and un- 
certainty to which Person you shall address your prayers 
and praises and the adoration of the heart. Let your 
worship of God even the Father, in public and in 
private, in the house of God, in your families, in your 
religious solitude, be ever animated with the pure spirit of 
devotion ; let the offering be the language of the heart ; 
let it be offered in spirit and in truth : and let your 
devotion be transferred into your lives, earnestly desiring 
to glorify God in all you do through Christ Jesus. 

You have views of the Father of mercies, the God 
of all consolation, which exclude all servile fear, where 
the heart is devoted to His service. You can think of Him 
as perfectly good and merciful, as love itself ; and while 



72 



Sermon VI. 



you forget not that He will render unto every man ac- 
cording to Ms works, and therefore pass the time of your 
sojourning here in godly fear and holy watchfulness, let 
your study of the ways and of the word of God lead you 
to higher and higher degrees of love and gratitude to 
Him. Endeavour to love Him, according to the direction 
of your Lord and Master, with all your heart ; and, in 
imitation of him whom you love and desire to obey, to 
do the will of your Heavenly Father and to finish His 
work, resigning yourselves and all your concerns, for time 
and for eternity, imreservedly into His hands, with a full 
confidence that He will then make all things work together 
for your good. 

Free from the limited ideas which many entertain 
respecting the bond of Christian fellowship, and the terms 
of divine favour, show forth, in a greater degree, the 
genuine dispositions of the Gospel of love and peace. Be 
ever ready to unite with them in the common objects of 
Christian love; and convince them that you are not here 
destitute of the spirit of him who hath commanded us to 
love one another. 

In fine, since you believe that you have attained clear 
ideas of Christian duty and Christian obligation, since you 
know that you must each, on the last great day, bear your 
own burden, and that then your condition must be de- 
termined by your dispositions and conduct in this life, 
let it be your earnest, steady aim, to abstain from the 
pollutions of the world, and to perfect holiness in the fear 
of God. In sincere and humble piety, in reverence for 
the name, the word, and the worship of Almighty God, in 
the love and imitation of Christ Jesus, in benevolence, and 
uprightness, and truth, and love, in moderation and 



The Essential Doctrines of the Gospel. 



73 



Christian sobriety, let your light so shine before men, that 
others seeing your good works may be led to glorify your 
Father who is in Heaven. Whatever you do, in word 
or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And in the path of Christian duty, may you possess the 
supports and comforts of the Gospel ; in every trial and 
perplexity may it guide you in the way of Christian truth 
and uprightness ; and may the peace of Grod which passeth 
all understanding keep your hearts and minds through 
Christ J esus . Amen . 



SERMON VIL 



THINK ON THESE THINGS." 



PHILIPPIANS IV., 8. 

FINALLY, BEETHEEJf, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE, 
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE HONEST, WHATSOEVER THINGS 
ARE JUST, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE PURE, WHATSOEVER 
THINGS ARE LOVELY, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE OE GOOD 
REPORT ; — IF THERE BE ANY VIRTUE, AND IF THERE BE 
ANY PRAISE, THINK ON THESE THINGS. 

I PERSUADE myself that there are few amongst you, who 
do not at once feel that this is a noble and comprehensive 
passage. The epistle from which it is taken, was written 
by Paul, aged and in bonds, to a body of Christians for 
whom he obviously felt a tender interest ; and who on 
various occasions manifested a grateful attachment 
to him, by contributing, as they had the power, to 
alleviate his affliction. It is written with the cordial 
feeling of one who knew that there were hearts to receive, 
and heads to comprehend, those enlarged views of duty, 
and those elevating sentiments of piety, and those glorious 
prospects of Christian faith, which had long become the 
settled and matured principles of his own mind ; and 
which, in various ways, manifest themselves in all his 
writings. 



Think on these things!' 



75 



The general import of tlie passage itself is at once 
obvious. Tlie diffuseness of the translation somewhat 
weakens the emphatic character of the original ; but there 
is only one of the expressions employed which does not 
convey its import ; I mean, whatsoever things are honest. 
In the common signification of the word honest, that is 
included in Just ; the original word means veneralle, or 
respectable, that which deserves respect or reverence for its 
excellence and dignity. JEonest formerly had nearly the 
same meaning as honourable, and in that sense our trans- 
lators obviously employed it. 

Those who are acquainted, as we all should be, with 
the invaluable writings of the Apostle, cannot be ignorant 
that he always presents the various branches of duty in 
their connection ; he viewed them as all arising from 
godliness as the root, and as deriving, from this ennobling 
principle, that which gives them their greatest vigour and 
most salutary infiuence ; and he viewed them too, in their 
connection with faith in Christ, as all comprehended in the 
Christian's obligation to love, imitate, and obey him, who 
came forth from God to guide us in the way of peace and 
blessedness, — This is the case in the present instance. He 
had just directed to the best and truest refuge in the 
solicitudes and trials of life : he exhorts to prayer and 
supplication with thanksgiving, and the la^dng open of 
all the desires of the heart before Him to whom all hearts 
are open, all desires known : he declares the blessed effects 
of habitual piety, in that peace which the world cannot 
give or take away, and which, by its tranquillising, 
strengthening influence, would promote perserving stead- 
fastness in Christian duty ; and then in the words of my 
text, he points out the virtues which this will lead us 



76 



Sermon VII. 



to exercise, — truth and uprightness ; — purity and love ; — -and 
lie does not omit the graces o£ the Cliristiaii character, but 
directs the attention of his brethren in Christ, to aU that 
accords with true dignity and honour, all that deserves 
approbation, all that is of good report. It was his happiness 
to be enabled to enforce all, by a reference (suitable and 
impressive from Paul the aged, the prisoner of Christ, 
their friend and spiritual father,) to his own example, — 
Those things which ye have both learned and received, 
and heard and seen in me, do, and the Grod of peace shall 
be with you." 

Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, what- 
soever venerable, whatsoever just, whatsoever pure, what- 
soever lovely, whatsoever of good report, — if there be any 
virtue, if any praise, — think on these things — think on 
them with the reflection of the understanding, and the 
earnest and eiffectual desires of the heart. 

It is often desirable to dwell on particular virtues of the 
Christian character, to show their importance and their 
direction, to excite to the practice of them, or to aid in 
strengthening their influence ; but it is also well some- 
times to take more connected views of duty, that we m.ay 
feel more sensibly, at what we have to aim, and that, 
while cherishing one grace or excellence of the gospel, we 
may not forget that there is no disposition in which duty 
has no concern, no branch of conduct in which its prin- 
ciples have no direction or control. If the young 
(whether in age or in moral culture) would lay such 
things seriously to heart, they would soon experience how 
true it is, that like the sun in the world of nature, 
Christian principle sheds its influence over the whole 
course of life; that where it has taken up its abode, it is 



" Tliinh on these things!' 



77 



continually guiding, stimulating, restraining, strengthen- 
ing or refining ; and that notLing is more salutary in 
preserving from tlie worst of evils, and in urging on in 
the noblest work, (that of duty and self -discipline), than 
the habitual tendency to refer our conduct and dispositions 
to the standard of the gospel under the influence of its 
motives. This will not unfrequently lead to humbling 
and even painful reflections ; but in humility there is 
peace, and such pain may yield a godly sorrow unto 
repentance ; and conscience will become more prompt and 
correct ; and our moral judgment more clear and decided ; 
— our way will be more secure, our views of Christian 
obligation will enlarge, our spirits will be more chastened ; 
— and if Christian faith fixes its abode in the heart, 
without losing the smallest portion of cheerfulness, or of 
vigour in the laudable engagements of life, we shall find 
that there is an internal principle which will preserve 
us from the evils that corrode the joys of the heart, and 
which will guide us with steadiness in the paths of 
righteousness. 

It was my principal object in selecting the words of 
my text for our present meditation, to illustrate them 
a little and show their extent of application. I would say 
to those who are setting out in life, — take them as your 
maxim and your law. They will conduct you securely and 
honourably. I would say to all, think on these things, 
frequently, earnestly, seriously and effectually, and the 
God of peace shall be with you. 

I. Then, let truth be the object of your thoughts, and 
of your earnest pursuit. Whatsoever things are true, those 
esteem and practice. The virtues have a close alliance 
one with another. Truth in words has an intimate con- 



78 



Sermon VII. 



nection with justice in action. Upriglitness includes both. 
The upright man must abhor falsehood. He will not only 
avoid those flagrant violations of truth, which all, who 
have any moral principle, must condemn (where they are 
the base means at attaining ends as base, selfish gain, or 
malignant revenge, — where they are employed to blacken 
the reputation of others, or to further the objects of 
viUany), but he wiU not hold as guiltless the falsehood 
prompted by the fear of censure or disgrace, by the love 
of distinction, by vanity or cowardice, by the foolish desire 
to practice on the credulity of others in order to glory 
over it, or by any view to selfish convenience or interest 
or the avoiding of personal evils, nor even by those 
advantages to which benevolence itself may appear to 
direct ; — certain that in every case the way of uprightness 
alone is the way of safety, and that the good of God's 
creatures will always be best secured by obedience to His 
will. To maintain the course of simplicity and godly 
sincerity, often requires prudence and fortitude ; but these 
are necessary, not only in every department of duty, but 
in the more important engagements of life ; and it is one 
of the innumerable ways in which godliness has the 
promise of the life that now is, that it leads to the culture 
of those views which impart prudence, and affords the 
noblest supports to fortitude, in difficulty and danger. 
Let simple aims, let moral caution be acquired, and the 
love of duty wXJl guide in perplexities in which he must be 
embarrassed, and perhaps fall, who is double-minded, and 
therefore unstable in all his ways. He who has fixed in 
his heart a serious respect to Grod as his constant witness, 
and a solemn sense of accountableness, and under the 
influence of these great principles is resolved, with the 



" Tliink on these things^ 



79 



divine blessing, tliat conscience shall guide liini and not 
the world's law, — the fear of God, and not the fear of man, 
— ^will be prompt to perceive, and firm to ioUow, and quick 
to regain the course of duty, while others waver and are 
lost. 

But the Apostle's words respect not merely veracity, or 
the duty of truth, but truth in opinion ; and the love of 
truth in this sense affords a noble guidance. Where the 
influence and importance of truth are duly appreciated, 
and the mind is accustomed to desire it, to seek after it — 
and, where it respects duty and moral sentiment, to carry 
it into practice — it easily perceives the injuriousness and 
folly of those j)aradoxes and sophistries by which the 
young are so often misled, through the persuasion of their 
own misguided inclinations. Without this love of truth 
as duty's friend, they soon learn to regard as uncertain, 
truths alike certain and momentous : the dictates of con- 
science are tampered with ; the maxims of the men of the 
world are set up in opposition to them ; the strict morality 
of the Christian is deemed unsuitable to the state of 
society ; fixed principles which would guide with honour 
and with peace, are rehnquished for the guidance of the 
more dazzling and daring assertions which appeal to in- 
terest or passion or self-indulgence ; the duties of piety 
are neglected ; — by degrees God is well-nigh forgotten, 
and faith in unseen realities ceases to have its controlling 
influence — present pursuits and pleasures absorb the 
thoughts and desires — and this world is practically con- 
sidered as all, — And yet, as the glorious luminary of 
heaven shines with undiminished brilliancy, whether or 
not he is discerned through the dense mist or in the lurid 
tempest, truth remains in all its lustre, though the mind 



80 



Sermon VII. 



may be surrounded witL. tlie sophistry of vice, or involved 
in the tempest of passion ; and even then God hath not 
left himself without witness, or man without direction. 
The chart and the compass remain to guide. The gospel 
of Christ clearly traces the duties and the dangers of man, 
and conscience directs which course to pursue, and which 
to shun. Some truths should be regarded by the mind as 
fixed principles, and nothing should induce us to relin- 
quish them, or to maintain them with wavering purpose. 
— ^^Thou Grod seest me," — and, After death the judg- 
ment,"— have this indubitable character. And even if 
that blessed gospel which affords the best support to faith 
in Grod and things unseen, should cease to have, as it 
once had, the lively conviction of the heart, yet amid all 
the fluctuations of the understanding, these truths should 
remain unshaken ; and if ever we feel our faith in them 
wavering, or perceive the world keeping them out of sight, 
let conscience take the alarm, and let us shun the broad 
path which leadeth to destruction. We cannot, by any 
speculations or reasonings, shun the omniscient eye of 
God ; nor, by any exertion of human intellect, can we 
prevent our hearing the voice of him who will call us forth 
from the tomb to life or condemnation. Let these solemn 
truths, then, be habitually thought of, — thought of as 
truths, — as certainties ; and if the mind be placed under 
their influence, it will have truth in view more than the 
dazzling novelties of speculation. If these should be pur- 
sued in order to sharpen and invigorate the intellect, it 
will always be with subserviency to higher objects, and 
with the caution of one who thinks nothing in the efforts 
of the human mind so venerable as truth, nothing so de- 
serving of respect and reverence. No wonder, then, that 



" Tliink on these things^ 



81 



the Apostle followed his exhortation to the earnest pursuit 
and practice of truth by directing the attention of his 
friends to 

n. "Whatsoever things are venerable ; whatsoever de- 
serves respect or reverence. If the mind is trained to 
consider things in the relation they bear to the great ends 
of life, its sentiments of respect will commonly be well 
directed. It will be able to look further than the glare of 
the world — to times and circumstances where, if a brighter 
lustre is not shed, all is gloom and darkness. Yet even in 
the dignities and honours of the world (dependent as 
these are for their influence on the happiness of him who 
attains them, on the way in which he gains and employs 
them,) there is usually much which makes them lawful 
and even laudable objects .of human desire, if not appre- 
ciated too highly. Never are they truly respectable to the 
individual if they are to be gained only by the sacrifice of 
principle ; never, if when attained they are to be em- 
ployed only for the purposes of selfish ambition and in- 
terest. Let them be sought, if God has given us talents 
and opportunity to seek them, as what may add to the 
happiness, but will certainly call for increased watchful- 
ness, expand the circle of duty, and give greater respon- 
sibilities ; and, if attained, let them be held as a trust, as 
affording increased power of usefulness, and more com- 
manding infiuence on human welfare. Thus viewed, the 
. eager grasping of the worldly desires may be lessened, 
but higher and nobler purposes and energies will be called 
into action ; worthy objects will be sought after, with a 
different but not less effective aim ; — if they are not 
attained, disappointment will not sour the heart, or throw 
a gloom over the course of life ; and, if attained, God will 

G 



82 



Sermon VII. 



not be forgotten in the honours and homage of the world 
around us, nor wiU the glory hereafter to be revealed be 
concealed by the pomp and lustre of the present. 

But heights of wealth or power, or intellectual emi- 
nence, like those to which the aspiring mind, much influ- 
enced by the estimate of the world, will sometimes glance, 
are within the reach of but few ; they do not give the 
highest dignity ; they often mislead from that which is 
truly respectable, — that which, whether found in youth or 
in age, in the elevated walks of life, or in the abodes of 
the humblest poverty, gives real dignity. When the mind, 
led to serious thought by the solicitudes or sorrows of life, 
views things in the light in which they should habitually 
be viewed by beings designed for eternity, — what is it 
that then appears most deserving of respect, most truly 
eminent ? Is it not the possession of those virtues which 
adorn the character, which give it grace and moral 
dignity ? The eminence on which the world places a 
person may give him honour, but these must. Spiritual 
excellence is true greatness. And when death has ter- 
minated the earthly career, and the splendours of the 
world cease to affect the mind in its estimate of those 
who were surrounded by them, how completely do we 
feel, that the faithful, serious, humble discharge of duty, 
the mild graces of the Christian, the union of the upright 
and the lovely, the love of truth and of purity, shed over 
the tomb a lustre on which the mind can rest with full 
satisfaction ; and make the memory cherished, and em- 
balm it with an admiring respect, which talent, or rank, or 
wealth, unaccompanied with moral worth, and undirected 
to the welfare of others, can never command. 

Whatsoever, then, is truly respectable, seriously con- 



.4 



" Think on these things^ 



83 



sider, and earnestly pursue. Seek for dignity in truth, 
and uprigMness, and purity, and benevolence. Let the 
welfare of others (in the wider or narrower circle, ac- 
cording to your sphere of influence,) be an object of your 
faithful aims. Let it influence you in your pursuit of 
knowledge, in your usual employments ; and allow it to 
curb the promptings of the mere selfish desires. Let the 
most venerable of all objects, religion, and the sublime 
exertions of self-control to which it points, the sub- 
jugation of worldly interests or passiojis, be habitually in 
your contemplation. Think on these things, till your 
hearts glow within you, and your desires are up-raised, 
and your imagination carries you to the presence of Him 
in whose sight nothing is venerable but that which will be 
venerable for ever. And then will you be well prepared 
for the insinuations and the sneers of those whose intel- 
lects, however gigantic in the fields of science or literature, 
are unable to comprehend the dignity of the soul, or 
to appreciate that which raises in the well-trained heart 
sentiments of admiring veneration. Think on these things, 
till your moral sentiments become elevated, till your 
standard is high-raised, and then your mind will be pre- 
pared to estimate objects in their true light ; and you will 
see, as you cannot otherwise see, how degrading is vice, 
how full of shame are the pollutions of the world. 

You cannot then expect to find what is truly dignified, 
except in company with justice and with purity ; and to 
these objects of the apostolic recommendation I now 
proceed. 

III. Whatsoever things are just, contemplate and 
pursue. Justice, the best jnoral writers among the ancient 



84 



Sermon VII. 



heathens pronounced to be the sovereign of all the virtues ; 
and certainly it is itself of essential moment in the 
character, and the best ally of all the higher virtues. It 
consists in rendering to all their dues ; it leaves out of view 
our own narrow interests, where they interfere with the 
equitable claims of others. It requires that we estimate 
these by other tests than those which self directs ; that 
we be not too tenacious of our supposed rights ; that we 
faithfully consider the rights of others, and that we con- 
sider those rights as extending not only to their pecuniary 
interests, but to their reputation and their peace. If we 
carefully think of this department of duty, so as to 
perceive its extent and importance, we shall find its in- 
fluence presenting itself in all the various relations of life, 
curbing the excesses of self-love, restraining and regulating 
our words and our actions, and even our dispositions 
where they affect others. 

As the intercourses of society and the relations of pro- 
perty extend, so must the claims of justice become more 
comprehensive and extensive, and the necessity of it more 
obvious ; and yet, these very circumstances also present 
greater temptations to depart from its strict principles. 
More interests interfere ; personal welfare seems (to the 
narrow mind) more independent of the welfare of others, 
or even more in opposition to it ; the plainest directions of 
justice become capable (as it seems J of modification and 
reserve ; so that he who has no firm principle of upright- 
ness within, or is destitute of the noblest support, — the 
fear of the Lord and desire to do His will, — often loses^ 
that discrimination of right and wrong, and that love and 
appreciation of justice in opposition to selfish interests, 



" Think on tluse things." 



85 



whicli once influenced Ids mind. This is most perliaps to 
be apprehended where other distinctions than those of 
truth and uprightness are to be the guide and ground of 
decision ; and where the claims of justice are often baffled 
or lost sight of, in the short-sighted rules and forms of 
human invention. 

Against all these perversions of the understanding and 
moral principle must we carefully guard. Truth and 
uprightness are not empty names ; nor ought they ever 
to lose their influence over our conduct. Let us keep our 
standard of estimation upright; if that be made to bend 
to us, we shall never raise our minds to that noble sense 
of uprightness, that love of it, and attachment to it, 
which, firmly gained, will be like a rock to support us, 
among the ebbs and flows of popular opinion, and the 
boisterous waves of interest. There are often critical 
moments in a person's life, in which his moral character is 
at stake. One departure from duty commonly leads to 
another, and the only safety is, in heing always upright ; 
and the only way to be always upright, is to regard up- 
rightness as a duty of indispensable obKgation, not only 
to man, but in the sight of God ; to guard against selfish 
purposes ; to exercise ourselves to have always a conscience 
void of ofience ; to judge of things by the rules by which 
we must one day be judged ; and to every temptation 
to depart from the plain path of integrity, to present a 
prompt and unhesitating reply, ' ^ I cannot do this great 
wickedness and sin against God." 

IV. Whatever things are pure are next urged upon our 
solicitous consideration and exercise. The Apostle's writings 
come too directly from the heart, and have too little the 



86 



Sermon VII. 



characters of logical refinement, to allow us to infer much 
from the arrangement of these several virtues ; but though 
his noble eloquence, dictated by exalted thoughts, often 
soars above all the restraints of art, yet it is almost im- 
possible to follow him critically, without perceiving the 
proofs of that high intellectual training which he must 
have received in the schools of philosophy at Tarsus, and 
afterwards at the feet of Gamaliel ; and what could have 
been more proper, had he studied the arrangement, than 
the place which he has assigned to each of these qualities, 
which he thus presents in combination? Purity is a 
powerful ally to uprightness. Whatever tends to fix the 
soul on selfish desires, and to increase the exorbitancy 
of self-love, must be the enemy to justice, and prepare 
for encroachment on the rights of others. As the claims 
of self are magnified, the claims of others either appear 
to be lessened, or at least cease to have the same influence 
in checking the efficacy of those dispositions which lead us 
to slight the duties of justice. Profligate licentious 
habits continually lead to injustice. They do it in part by 
occasioning expenses which the circumstances of the indi- 
vidual cannot bear ; thus presenting direct temptations to 
fraud and dishonesty and violations of confidence ; and by 
degrees leading to great and fearful breaches of social 
duty, often such as expose to the severest animadversions 
of the law. But they do it still more, and even with 
greater moral injury, by lowering the tone of moral 
principle, — by weakening the sense of duty, — by leading 
to slight, and then to throw off, the restraints of religion 
and conscience, — by making God neglected, — and by ex- 
cluding from sight as much as possible, those solemn 



" Tliinh on these things'' 



87 



realities, wliicli, even if with, an unobserved influence, 
should operate continually on tlie mind, and preserve from 
sinning against Him wlio ever knoweth the way that we 
take. 

How much those baneful pursuits, which so often have 
given them the name of pleasures, are continually defeating 
the best hopes of friends, and interfering with the fairest 
prospects, how often they either prematurely cut off 
from life, and (where they do not) inevitably treasure 
up for advancing years decay of body, disease and 
wretchedness, and restless fearful distress of mind, — is 
known to all who observe the course of the abandoned, 
and even of those who have not resolution enough to shun 
the haunts of the wicked, though they do not altogether 
ose the sense of religion in their hearts. 

But it is not direct and op^en immorality alone which 
will be shunned by those who seek the blessings of purity. 
This high quality has its seat in the heart, and where 
it rules there it will guard the thoughts, and urge to 
discipline them ; and it will make the retired actions such, 
that the eye which ever seeth, will see in the most secluded 
recesses nothing which can wound the conscience, nothing 
to stain the fair robe of virtue. It is a fearful truth that 
outward decorum may be preserved, and yet the heart be 
debased ; and therefore they who aspire to the blessedness 
of the pure in heart, will early and perseveringly en- 
deavour so to cultivate such a command over their trains 
of thought and imagination, that obtrusive thoughts and 
imaginations, if they enter, may be banished by such as 
leave no sting or stain behind them — such as religion can 
approve, or at least pass by without condemnation. This 



88 



Sermon VII. 



mental comiiiaiid is powerfully assisted by the steady ful- 
filment of tlie regular employments of a person's station 
in life ; and it is also powerfully exercised by the steady 
pursuit of useful knowledge ; while at the same time this 
furnishes the mind with subjects which invigorate and 
elevate, and often lead on to Him who is the source of all 
light and knowledge ; and thus, as in numberless other 
ways, knowledge is the friend of virtue. 

Whatsoever things are pure, stu.dy and pursue. To 
comply with this precept of heavenly wisdom, that true 
delicacy and modesty must be cherished, which will shrink 
from offensive language, and from unhallowed thoughts. 
Those recesses which the eye of man doth not penetrate, it 
will remember are constantly open to Him who knoweth 
the imaginations ,ipf the thoughts ; and the secret ej acula- 
tion, and the stated prayer of the heart seeking after Grod, 
will be found, where united with watchfulness, to be the 
most effectual preservations against the pollutions of sin. 
That watchfulness is in no way inconsistent with the 
cheerful intercourses of sociality, and with other innocent 
recreations ; but it requires temperance in all allowed in- 
du.lgences, in sleep, in diet, and in mere amusement, and 
the avoidance of indolent gratification, and of dissipating 
pursuits, and of whatever tends to enfeeble the mind, and 
render it indisposed to the proper engagements of one's 
calling and relations in life. 

It may not be deemed unsuitable to observe that the 
maternal friend, influenced by Christian principle, will 
sedulously endeavour to direct her daughters in the culti- 
vation of that ' ' true delicacy which consists in purity of 
sentiment;" — not the delicacy of mere ignorance, but the 



" Thinh on these things!' 



89 



purity of imagination and desire. They will guard the 
plant of modesty with, assiduous care ; they will lead to 
the observance of that decent personal reserve, which is so 
closely connected with real refinement of heart ; and they 
will prevent unrestrained intercourse with companions of 
suspicious delicacy. "Without encouraging that fastidious- 
ness, which is at best but a suspicious friend of purity, 
they will not be afraid of being thought fastidious ; and 
bearing in mind the requirement, whatever things are 
pure," they will think more of wisdom and duty than 
of fashion, and never allow genuine modesty to be without 
support, or the want of it to be without censure, or 
at least obvious disapprobation. Happy will it be for 
the interests of virtue, when the female sex not only 
cherish modesty and purity in their own breasts (which 
happily is no uncommon case), but make it obvious that 
virtuous conduct is of more weight with them than the 
"brilliancy of wit, or the fascinations of fashion ; — and 
when (in those early trainings of the youthful heart, 
which so much devolve upon them, and in that influence 
in riper years which they can perhaps best exercise), they 
lead the other sex to cultivate a respect for moral purity, 
and a love of it, and that self-control" which was 
declared to be wisdom's root" by one, who through the 
want of it blighted his fairest prospects, and sunk into an 
untimely grave. 

I know not how the serious intelligent young can fix 
upon a surer guidance than this noble passage. While 
dwelling upon it, one can scarcely avoid perceiving that 
close connection of the different branches of virtue which 
it recommends, all springing from the great root of re- 



90 



Sermon VII. 



ligious principle. I adverted to the connection between 
justice and purity ; — see how this is connected with the 
love of truth, and particularly of the greatest of truth. 
In an admirable discourse of the late Dr. Lindsay, on 
a kindred subject, the eloquent preacher observes, ^^To a 
virtuous man what idea is so delightful, as that of living 
under the protection, of moving under the guidance, of 
approaching to the resemblance, of being destined to the 
fuller knowledge and more perfect enjo3niient of, un- 
changeable and everlasting goodness ? A heart that has 
no evil propensities to gratify, can have no temptation to 
listen to the vain sophisms of pride and sensuality, by 
which the wicked delude themselves into unbelief in order 
to escape the terrors of a guilty conscience. It is the 
interest of such a heart to hear the testimony of nature 
within, and the assurance of scripture from without, that 
the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil 
and the good. For what solace can such a heart feel 
equal to that which arises from filial confidence, from 
humble hope, from the assurance that, after having ex- 
perienced the joys of devotion here, as far as is consistent 
with the ends of a probationary state, it shall ultimately 
become a nobler and fitter habitation for the spirit of 
God." 

That purity of heart which the Gospel requires ex- 
tends also to all those base desires and malignant 
passions which lead in their habitual tendency to the con- 
traction of moral guilt. The heart that harbours pride, 
or covetousness, or envy, or revenge, though it may never 
have known the power of the grosser appetites, is not 
therefore entitled to the praise of being pure." And 



" Think on these things,' 



91 



though the Apostle here I believe refers peculiarly to 
purity in the common sense of the term, yet how obviously 
is it connected with the next requirement : — 

V. That we study and practise whatever things are lovely ^ 
— whatever in our dispositions and in our external conduct 
is calculated to render a person the object of love or com- 
placent esteem. — "Whatever causes an exorbitant attention 
to self, whatever cherishes our own high thoughts of our- 
selves, and leads to seek inordinately our own comfort or 
reputation, whatever excludes from sight considerations 
which are fitted to introduce a kindly attention to the 
feelings and reputation of others, — tends to interfere with 
this direction of the Apostle ; and hence it is among other 
reasons that impurity has so powerful a tendency to de- 
stroy the higher degrees of benevolent affection. 

The customs of the world, introducing an artificial 
politeness, often throw a cloak over those dispositions 
which affect the happiness of those who are more exposed 
to their influence, — for instance, in the domestic circle; 
even such restraint is valuable, and makes the intercourses 
of society more accordant with the spirit of the gospel ; 
and not unfrequently those who have little restraint from 
a sense of duty, acquire the captivating manners with 
which one would wish virtue to be always accompanied. 
But where a sense of duty does not enter the heart, the 
self-willedness, the love of gratification, the self-indul- 
gence, which are all cherished by a regardlessness of the 
virtues of Christian sobriety, all tend to make the lovely 
in the external deportment (whether real or assumed,) but 
little the object of attention, in those intercourses where, 
in a thousand nameless ways, we are able to promote the 



92 



Sermon VII. 



peace and comfort of those around us. On tlie other 
hand, when Christian principle has a powerful influence 
in the heart, it leads us to dwell upon and to cultivate not 
only the essential virtues of the moral character, — truth 
and uprightness and temperance and purity, — but to 
pursue and practice those qualities which adorn and which 
influence the hearts of others ; not only those which give 
stability and consistency to the character, but those which 
make it lovely. 

The requirements of the Gospel are clear and express 
on this point, and it does not leave it to ourselves whether 
or not we will exercise these graces of the heart. It 
makes the kindly affections a part of duty. It places us 
under an obligation, as the disciples of him who pleased 
not himself, to be kindly affectioned one to another ; to 
mind not merely our own, but the things of others also, in 
honour preferring one another ; to restrain the emotions 
of anger and envy, and uncharitableness. It requires us 
to be compassionate, merciful, forgiving, and courteous ; 
not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing ; not 
willingly offending, or being easily offended ; and exer- 
cising patience and forbearance under real injuries. It is 
at once obvious that, in proportion as the spirit of the 
Gospel brings forth these friiits in the heart and in the 
life, must the direction of the Apostle be fulfilled. These 
are what are truly lovely. The exterior may sometimes 
be assumed ; and, by the restraint imposed on the expres- 
sion of wrong feelings, the feelings themselves may often 
be checked, suspended in their exercise, and even replaced 
by kindlier emotions. But the true way, the most lasting 
and most effectual way, is that which is pre-eminently the 



" Think on these things!' 



93 



gospel principle, to subdue and regulate the heart itself. 
The Christian "will endeavour to subdue arrogance and 
vain glory, contempt of others and a fond conceit of him- 
self ; he must bring down his high thoughts of himself to 
a just level ; and, by curbing every excess of self-love, 
and entirely repressing all its inordinate promptings, and 
by benevolent consideration of the peace and comfort of 
others, and by real desires to promote the happiness of all 
connected with him, he must (not in order to be thought 
amiable but to le so,) pursue steadily those things which 
are lovely. It is necessary that in this he never lose sight 
of those virtues which deserve respect. We must not be 
men-pleasers, if conscience would be wounded ; — we must 
not aim to gratify at the expense of truth and sincerity ; 
— nor pamper pride or malignant passions in order to 
please ; — nor, in order to conciliate affection and regard, 
say peace where there is no peace ; — we must never sacri- 
fice principle, in order to obtain love. But wherever it is 
only self that we are to give up, — unreasonable desires, 
uncharitable judgments, hasty unkind censure, and the 
expression of arrogance and bitterness, — there let us think 
on whatever things are lovely. 

VI. And lastly, whatever things are of good re^wrt^ 
deserve our thoughts and our endeavours, from a regard, 
not only to the love and to the happiness of others, but 
also to our own usefulness and happiness. The estimation 
in which others hold us, is of great moment as affecting 
our ability to do them good and to gain their aid in doing 
good to others ; it affects their conduct towards us in 
various ways, and must necessarily have great influence 
on our comfort and welfare. It is well, it is necessary, to 



94 



Sermon VII. 



be able to deliberate and to act, without influence from 
the sentiments of others (even of the wise and good,) 
respecting our conduct ; there are often occasions when 
the heart must rise above the opinions of the thoughtless 
and the dissipated; there are occasions when the good 
opinion of the world around us must not even be thought 
of, but only the straightforward course of duty, and the 
resolutions of our best moments, to be faithful, steadfast, 
and immovable. — But it is the part of wisdom and of 
duty, to give no reasonable ground to suspect evil of our 
good ; and to aim after those things which are of good 
report. He that is careless of character will not only be 
forced, as life advances, to feel his folly to his cost, but he 
wiU in all probability have the temptations to evil in- 
creased tenfold. The fear of man sometimes worketh a 
snare, but the desire of a clear reputation is often a power- 
ful ally to virtue, o^nd an incitement to active and generous 
efforts, which, in the earlier periods of the spiritual pro- 
gress, are not generally to be expected without it. Yet 
does this laudable motive, when inordinate, continually 
defeat all its best ends. It degenerates into pride and 
vanity, and corrodes the reputation which was its object. 
It fetters the mind by the necessity for the good opinion 
of others as its stimulus ; it alloys the best emanations of 
benevolence ; it lowers the tone of moral sentiment ; it is 
the bane of humility, and it calls off from that attention 
to duty and to the approbation of the Omniscient Judge, 
which are the best supports of virtue, and the surest 
motives to the practice of it. — ^Where reputation is made 
the ruHng object of desire, the higher principles wiU 
seldom govern, or their rule will be without firmness, and 



" Thinh on these things,'' 



95 



ever fluctuating with the opinions of the world. A regard 
to reputation may continue, and ought to continue, long 
after the desire of it has ceased to be a leading motive. 
It is a support of virtue, and often directs to a wise em- 
ployment of the experience of others. But it is our duty 
to pursue what is solidly excellent in itself, as well as fair 
and lovely in the estimation of others ; and to live and act 
as having the eye of God ever upon us, and the example 
and word of Christ to guide us ; influenced by the highest 
principle, that of obedience to the will of Him who has 
taught us by His inspired servant, that ^ ' the world 
passeth away, and the lusts thereof, but he that doeth 
the will of Grod abideth for ever." 

Whatever then is virtuous, whatever deserves appro- 
bation, let us make them the object of our earnest solemn 
purposes, and our steadfast watchful aim ; and may the 
peace of Grod which passeth all understanding keep our 
hearts and minds through J esus Christ. — Amen. 



SERMON VIIL 



^^WE HAVE COEEUPTED NO MAN." 



2 COEINTHIANS VII., 2. 

EECEIYE US ; WE HAVE WEONGED 1^0 MAJST, WE HAVE COR- 
HrPTED NO MAIS', WE HA YE DEEEAXJDED 1^0 MAN. 

The Apostle was caUed upon by tlie circumstances in 
which, he was placed with respect to the Corinthian Chris- 
tians, to make these animated and just assertions of the 
unblameableness of his conduct among them ; and it is 
well for us, if we are able to make the same appeal to our 
own consciences, and, — in those moments when the world 
is shut out, and the power of conscience and the convic- 
tions of religion are duly felt, — can say with truth, I have 
wronged no one, I have defrauded no one, / have corrupted 
no one. 

Considering how much the social nature of man ex- 
poses him to the influence of the immoral words and 
actions of others, how much they tend to countenance and 
confirm wrong propensities, to pervert his notions of duty, 
and to lessen the power of those right views and principles 
which would conduct him safely to endless happiness, it is 
required by prudence as well as by religion, that we 
should be on our guard against the influence of customs 
and examples, which are inconsistent with the gospel o£ 



" We have corrupted no man." 



97 



Jesus ; and it is also required by every principle of bene- 
volence and duty, tbat we should avoid, as much as lies in 
our power, whatever may corrupt the Christian principles, 
and weaken the Christian practice, of others. 

It is probable that few pay a sufficient attention to the 
influence which their conduct and conversation have upon 
the minds of others ; and that persons, whose own cha- 
racter is truly Christian, often do essential injury by un- 
guarded expressions, and by not sufficiently guarding 
against the appearance of evil. That those who are not 
desirous to act according to the rules of the Gospel, do 
frequently and essentially injure the moral character of 
others, without direct intention, is too obvious to require 
proof ; and it is a fact of the most distressing kind, cal- 
culated to give the most painful impressions of the degree 
to which human depravity may reach, that, in numerous 
instances, those who do not subject themselves to the 
restraints of duty intentionally endeavour to lead others 
into the paths of wickedness ; and this too sometimes, 
without any advantage or pleasure to themselves. 

It may be attended with some beneficial effects to our 
own minds, if we consider, somewhat particularly, cases 
in which men injure the moral character of others. 

The Jirst and most striking case is, where men of 
wicked and abandoned character, with very little tempt- 
ation of interest or pleasure, intentionally weaken the 
principles, and place temptation in the way, of those who, 
without such temptation, might have been preserved from 
any great and decided departures from duty. Instances 
have been known where persons, possessed of some pleas- 
ing qualities of head or heart, have exercised them with a 
direct view to lead others from the paths of peace. They 

H 



98 



Sermon VIII. 



have induced tliem to believe tliat the way of vice is 
pleasant, — tliat there could be no harm in gratifying those 
propensities which naturally spring up in the human 
frame. They have applied their eifforts to that feeling of 
false shame, by which thousands and tens of thousands 
have fallen into the snares of sin. They have endeavoured, 
with all the arts of persuasive sophistry, to loosen those 
restraints which religious principles have imposed, to stifle 
the upbraidings of conscience, and to destroy the dread of 
futurity. And they have gloried in their fall, and re- 
joiced to see them become as abandoned as themselves. 
The young should know that such "things are possible, 
and that such things have too often occurred ; but the 
more common case is, — 

Secondly J When persons of abandoned character, prin- 
cipally with a view to their own gratification or interest, 
(though sometimes, it is to be feared, mixed with wicked 
satisfaction at their success,) intentionally lead others to 
partake in their criminal excesses, or induce them to 
become partners in schemes of dishonesty or malice. 
Though these cases may not mark such deplorable de- 
pravity as those which I last mentioned, there is a degree 
of wickedness in such conduct, which, should the con- 
science ever become alive to the sense of duty, will 
harrow up its inmost recesses, and inflict pangs which 
they only can fully know, who have experienced the tor- 
ments of a guilty conscience ; and which will, at any rate, 
in all probability, constitute a chief source of their future 
misery. Most vices are of a social nature ; and he who 
indulges in them cannot fail sometimes to lead aside the 
unwary, and to break down the barriers of virtue. And 
still more frequently must he increase the strength of evil 



" We have corrupted no manP 



99 



habits in tlie minds of others, and harden the transgressor 
in his wickedness. Many persons seem to think that they 
have a right to sport with their own lives and happiness 
as they please, provided they do not harm to others ; and 
some of this description have so mnch of inconsistent 
benevolence about them, that they would not wilfully in- 
flict pain upon a fellow mortal. And upon this benevo- 
lence they pique themselves ; while they neglect the 
Divine commandments, as these respect themselves and 
their God. Those who are deaf to the voice of religion, 
when she assures them that a time will come when God 
will render unto every man according to his works, cannot 
be expected to listen to those obvious considerations of 
duty, which force themselves upon the minds of the obe- 
dient : or we might tell them, that real benevolence 
requires that they should not incapacitate'^themselves from 
discharging their duty to others ; and, above all, that by 
their criminal excess they were doing more injury to the 
worth and happiness of those of whose happiness they 
may think they are tender, than if they were to injure 
their property, or inflict upon them direct bodily suflering. 
Does he who first leads the unwary youth into the haunts 
of debauchery do him no injury ? — does he who laughs at 
his scruples, and aids him to stifle the reproaches of con- 
science, do him no injury ? — does he do him no injury, 
who countenances him. by his example, and, by his licen- 
tious language, by his licentious conduct, strengthens 
those wicked habits, which but for him might have been 
left so weak that conscience might have regained its once 
acknowledged dominion ? Does he do no harm to his 
fellow-creature, who makes the first inroads on family 



100 



Sermon VIII. 



purity ? — or he who contributes to render the poor wretch 
an outcast of society ? — or he who then encourages her in 
practices which rivet her in the chains of vice, which make 
life a burden so long as the slightest sense of duty or 
honor remains alive, and which, if they extinguish all 
shame, sink the character to the lowest degree of de« 
pravity ? 

Men wretchedly deceive themselves when they suppose 
that their vices do no harm to others. They may not be 
able to see how an individual act of wickedness is injuri- 
ous ; but no one has a right to calculate by the effect of 
individual acts. He who wilfully sins once, is more pre- 
pared to fall by temptation, than he was before. The 
horror attending the first great breach of duty is gone ; and 
to prevent fiirther breaches, those considerations alone 
remain, which have already proved too weak. And few 
will be so absurd as to deny that, by frequent acts of 
wickedness, they must do injury to the minds, if not to 
the property or present happiness, of others. It appears 
to me that on this point we are often negligent in our cal- 
culations. Moral worth is the only substantial ground of 
peace here, and is essentially requisite to happiness in 
that uncertain state whither we are all hastening. He, 
then, who does what will deprave another or increase his 
depravity, does him the most essential injury. He may 
be himself called from the paths of sin ; he may then use 
his utmost efforts to imdo the wrong which he has done ; 
but this cannot be. The sins of that other will have in 
like manner depraved others, or increased their depravity ; 
and so prolific is the nature of vice, that one crime has 
often given birth to a thousand others : and no one can 



" We have corrupted no many 



101 



truly say, that tlie consequences of his ill conduct shall go 
no further. 

If there should be any now present, who make it no 
object to submit their conduct to the restraints prescribed 
by the laws of our Heavenly Father, let me entreat them 
to consider, that- the commands of a wise and benevolent 
God cannot be violated without evil consequences ; for 
they must be designed to prevent evils, and He who has 
ordained them will vindicate their importance. If in this 
life they are not forced to perceive that no breach of duty 
is harmless, that those indulgencies in conduct, forbidden 
by the laws of God, which they flattered themselves in- 
jured no one, have never been without consequences bane- 
ful to their own peace and worth, baneful to the peace 
and worth of others, — the time will come when the 
ruinous consequences of sin will teach them its real 
enormity, when they will learn to perceive how unjustly 
and how foolishly, and how presumptuously they reasoned, 
when they dared to suppose that to do what God has for- 
bidden would do harm to no one. Indeed there is but 
one complete safeguard from the deceitful sophistry of 
vicious inclinations ; it is to repress their false represent- 
ations by the considerations of religion. Eeflect whether 
God can approve of the conduct to which they prompt ; 
and if not, be assured that it is sinful, and that, however 
pleasing its appearance, it cannot fail to be injurious to 
your best interests, and in all probability to the best in- 
terests of others. Were the young but heartily and 
habitually impressed with the conviction, that God knows 
all our thoughts and actions, and that obedience to His 
will is in all cases our duty, and in all cases our true 
wisdom, they would have a support to virtuous principles 



102 



Sermon VIII. 



and dispositions, wMcL. would nsually enable those to 
stand firm in tlie day of trial, and give them a general 
decision, vigour, and permanency. 

But let us consider a little the manner in which the 
moral worth of others may be injured by a third class, of 
those who essentially corrupt the moral principles of others 
by their opinions and practices. It consists of those in- 
considerate persons who, without thinking of the evil 
which they do, or paying any direct attention to the rules 
of duty, go On in the round of dissipation, heedless of 
their final destination, and regardless of the purposes for 
which they were sent into the world. Those persons pass 
their days without any serious thought. They would not 
perhaps willingly do anything which they thought to be 
harm ; and, so long as they keep clear of those things, 
believe that they are at least as good as their neighbours. 
But Grod is not in all their thoughts ; duty and a life to 
come are forgotten in the round of amusement and appa- 
rent gaiety. They may possess many engaging qualities 
of head and heart ; many of which, if they had been 
planted in a more kindly soil, would have taken a deep 
root and brought forth fruit to everlasting life. And by 
those engaging qualities, and by the general influence of 
their language and example, numbers are led into the 
same fatal delusion, and live as though this life were their 
all, spending one day after another as though they were 
to live for ever, without making any preparation for that 
world, where nothing wiU avail but the possession of right 
affections of heart, and the faithful endeavour to discharge 
duty as far as known to us. Persons of this class not 
only injure others by their neglect of Christian duty, but 
also, and this in a most essential degree, by ridiculing 



" We have corrupted no man.'' 103 



strict attention and even any tolerable attention to religion, 
by insinuating, if not expressly conveying, tliat they re- 
gard religious duty as unfashionable, and stigmatizing 
those who avoid the usual amusements, and frivolous 
levity, with which the Lord's day is spent, as sanctified 
censors of those who merely do as others do. 

In general it is to be feared, that persons who devote 
the best of their time and affections to the trifling pursuit 
of trifling pleasures, at that period when the affections 
usually receive their lasting bias, and when, if at any 
time, the foundation is laid for genuine worth, will leave 
life without any suitable preparation for eternity. . Happy 
would it be for them, if their last days, if their futurity, 
were not embittered by the recollections, that they have 
not only wasted their own lives, but led others to waste 
theirs. 

Fourthly, — And (among those who are likely to be in- 
fluenced by the Christian preacher,) a more prevalent 
class, — those who have the sense of duty sufficiently 
strong to preserve them from flagrant sins, but who yet do 
not make a point of considering and obeying its dictates 
in all cases ; who have a general sense of religion and of 
the importance of it, and have no acknowledged wish to 
throw off its restraints, but who yet do not make it an 
object of primary concern, (allowing other inferior objects 
to have a greater share in their heart's attention,) and do 
not sincerely try to obey Grod in all things. Whether we, 
my friends, are in this class, is a point which it will be 
well for us to determine ; for if we are, our situation and 
character are very dubious. But to aid you in this 
inquiry, is not my present object ; it is rather to point out 
how persons of this class (and even, in some of the cases, 



104 



Sermon VIII. 



persons wlio really are sincerely endeavouring to serve 
and please God,) may corrupt others by their words or 
actions. 

In the first place, the degree of indifference to re- 
ligious duties which is so often manifested by professing 
Christians, necessarily produces in the minds of others the 
idea, that religion is not so necessary or so pleasant as the 
Scriptures represent it to be. They see such persons 
maintain a general respectability of character, they per- 
ceive that they keep aloof from all gross and observed 
immorality, and perhaps have reason to believe that their 
general conduct in society is consistent with the rules of 
the gospel ; but at the same time they perceive that the 
public or private discharge of the duties of religion, by 
which, and by which only, religious principle is generally 
kept alive in the heart, is made of little consideration, — 
often neglected, — and, when attended to, attended to with 
apparent indifference or levity. These things (which, 
however, sometimes may be in appearance only,) have 
very frequently given rise to the idea, that religion is not 
essential ; that it is not necessary to be so very good ; and 
that, so long as there is nothing wrong in the conduct, no 
direct breach of the duties which we owe to our fellow- 
creatures, all is right, and the hope of final acceptance 
may be rightly indulged. It should be ever borne in 
mind, by those who feel such opinions influence their 
conduct, that it is to actions, only as springing from right 
dispositions of heart, that the gospel promises its reward ; — 
that in all probability there never was an instance where 
the duties of morality (as they respect ourselves or other 
men) where in any great degree strictly, faithfully, and 
fully discharged, where there was not a considerable 



" We have cormpted no many 



105 



degree of religious principle ; — that at any rate, (even 
supposing the virtues of benevolence and self-government 
to have gained a high degree of strength and vigour in 
the heart,) yet the gospel requires not only love to men, 
but love to God, not only morality in the common sense of 
the term, but the spirit of disposition of Christ, in which 
most assuredly obedience to the will of God as such con- 
stituted the ruling feature ; — and lastly, that the happiness 
of the blessed must necessarily consist in the exercise 
of the best affections of our nature, and in a peculiar 
manner of those which have God for their object ; and 
consequently, that those persons cannot be fit to be par- 
takers of that happiness, who have lived in the habitual 
and allowed neglect of the devout affections. 

But, secondly, from that fear and love of the world, 
which are almost alike at enmity with the love and fear of 
God, persons who really have considerable sense of re- 
ligion, and in many respects endeavour to obey its dictates, 
often injure the moral worth of others, by want of steady 
opposition to what they know to be wrong ; by counten- 
ancing by their words or actions, customs and practices 
which they disapprove, but which they have not strength 
of mind to resist ; by listening without any appearance of 
disapprobation (and even sometimes with an apparent 
assent to the ridicule thrown upon those who manifest a 
strict regard to Christian principle,) to the language of 
impurity, and 'to principles which tend to sap the founda- 
tion of purity and religion in the minds of others. 

Again, thirdly, persons who are not themselves strict 
in their regard to religious principle, frequ.ently injure 
others by themselves advancing opinions, which, though 
they may be harmless in their own minds, yet are essen- 



106 



Sermon VIII. 



tiaUy injurious to those in whose minds moral principle 
lias not taken a firm root. Such, opinions may be true, 
and may naturally follow from others indisputably true ; 
and, when taken in their just extent, and also limited by 
the restrictions which the moralist would impose upon 
them, may be practically beneficial, but when taken 
unconnectedly must be hurtful, and lead the young 
and unexperienced to conclusions very injurious to their 
peace and virtue. Those who do really believe that Jesus 
Christ was sent by God, and spoke with the authority 
of God, ought to regard with suspicion every pioral 
principle, which is, even in appearance, opposed by the 
spirit of precepts of his Gospel ; and at any rate, it should 
be their endeavour so to guard their own words, that they 
may not be supposed to justify or teach practices, which 
they must consider as expressly discountenanced by him 
who was the Word of God. 

A fourth way in which persons, who are not seriously 
disposed to make obedience to God and duty their primary 
object, corrupt others, is, by indulging themselves freely 
in those gratifications and amusements, from which perhaps 
they may derive no injury, but by which in all probability 
others would be injured. — Whatever practices and amuse- 
ments, are usually attended with injurious consequences to 
the moral character of others, whether or not they are 
necessarily so, — to countenance them is in reality J^o ex- 
pose ourselves to the guilt of those consequences : and 
if those practices or amusements not only usually are 
attended with such injurious consequences, but are never 
unattended with great and serious evils, —however inno- 
cent they may be to ourselves alone, we are not justifiable 
in setting others the example of engaging in them, and 



" JVe have corrujoted no man'' 



107 



thus saying, if not in words, still more forcibly by our 
conduct, there is no harm in them. It is not to be ex- 
pected that others will reason so nicely respecting our 
actions, and from our actions to our opinions, as we our- 
selves do. He who sees the professing Christian freely 
indidge in any practice or amusement which suits his 
inclination, will very gladly take his example as his pre- 
cedent. There can be no harm in this," he will naturally, 
but probably absurdly, say in reply to the suggestions of 
a more rigid adviser, ^ ' for those who have as much 
religion as yourself, without any hesitation do as I do." 
Can it be expected that those nice distinctions will be 
attended to, on which the morality of the practice or 
amusement depends ? — or will it not almost necessarily 
happen, that the general features of the circumstances 
only will be attended to, and the fact, that we pursue such 
and such a plan of conduct, be alone regarded ? 

These considerations might be pursued to a much 
greater length ; but they are all modifications of the 
general principle, that the professing Christian must 
necessarily injure the moral worth of others, whenever 
and however he advances opinions which are inconsistent 
with the strict morality of the Gospel, and whenever he 
manifests a practical disregard to the spirit and precepts 
of Jesus. And it cannot be too strongly impressed upon 
our minds, that we shall be called to give an account, not 
only of our actions but of our words ; and that, where the 
consequences of our words and actions are naturally in- 
jurious to others, (whether or not those consequences 
actually follow, though in general we are incompetent 
judges of this,) we are answerable for those consequences; 
and that therefore it is our bounden duty, for the sake of 



108 



Sermon VIII. 



others as well as ourselves, to endeavour to make our 
conduct and conversation so consistent with, the spirit and 
precept of the Gospel, that, when we stand before His bar, 
it may not add to our personal oflEences against His law, 
that we have, by our opinions or by our practices, weak- 
ened the religious strength of any, assisted to stifle the 
reproaches of conscience, or afforded to the wicked en- 
couragement in their wickedness. 

I wish the younger part of my hearers in particular^ 
to direct their attention to three observations which natur- 
ally arise from this subject ; with which I will conclude. 

1. It is of the first importance to their future peace of 
mind, and to save them from some of the severest pangs 
which can arise in the awakened conscience, that they 
should carefully avoid whatever, either in their words or 
actions, will tend to corrupt those around them or increase 
their corruption. The first impulse to youthful vices, has 
often been the vicious language or conduct of thoughtless 
companions, who perhaps may have directly intended no 
harm, but who have in reality done the greatest injury. 

2. It is your duty as weU as wisdom, to shun, as dan- 
gerous enemies to your best interests, those companions 
who, in their conversation and conduct, manifest a want 
of that restraint which the Gospel of Jesus imposes upon 
criminal propensities, — a restraint which never yet, where 
fully submitted to, injured the happiness of any, — and 
which never yet was thrown off without the most baneful 
effects upon the peace and real welfare of the present life, 
and upon the happiness of that to come. 

3. Let me implore of you to bear in mind, that the 
evil practices and opinions of others, will furnish no ex- 
cuse for you at that awful day, when God will judge the 



" We have corrupted no man.'* 



109 



world in righteousness, and will render nnto every man 
according to his works. That day will in effect he present 
to each of ns, when life leaves ns ; and then every one 
must bear his own burden. You have a clear rule of 
duty, — the words of Jesus, and of those who were sent 
by him to teach his religion. The words of Jesus are the 
words of God; they claim your attentive regard and 
obedience. If you make the rules of duty, as they are 
contained in the Scriptures, your guide, they will conduct 
you safely through the journey of life ; they will prevent 
no innocent pleasure ; they will increase every joy which 
has a title to the heart ; they will support you under its 
difficulties and trials ; they will cheer you in the near pro- 
spect of dissolution ; and through the ages of eternity, 
(gracious God, what inj6.nite rewards hast Thou promised 
to our poor services !) through the countless ages of eter- 
nity, you will enjoy happiness beyond the utmost grasp of 
human imagination. 

But let me remind you, too, of the alternative. If you 
neglect the various warnings which are afforded you, of 
your duty and destination, — if you begin, with the pre- 
sumptuous hope that you will but begin, and continue, as 
there is then too much reason to fear that you will, in the 
way which the wicked, and which you too, may call pleasure, 
but which in reality leadeth to destruction ; — I have 
nothing to present to you but the terrors of the Lord ; for 
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, will be 
upon the soul of every one who doeth evil. May God of 
His great mercy preserve us all from this dreadful state. 



SERMON IX. 



CHEISTIAN PATEIOTISM/^ 



Ohiiistia]^^' Brethren, 

The occurrences of the past week liave recalled, in the 
hearts of millions, all that vividness of loyal sentiment 
with which we first welcomed onr young Sovereign to the 
station appointed her by the providence of Him who is 
Lord of all ; — a sentiment raised into affection, and 
strengthened into attachment, by various traits in her 
public conduct during the first year of regal duty, and by 
the increased knowledge which we have had of her per- 
sonal character, of the principles by which her education 
was regulated, and of the fixedness of those purposes 
which, on the day of her accession, she declared with an 
earnestness that filled our hearts with joy. 

The recent solemn acts, by which the nation distinctly 
recognizes her as its Sovereign, and pledges its fealty to 
her, and by which she expressly undertakes the high 
duties of her trust, under a sense of her responsibilities, 
and under the impressive and inviolable engagements of 

* This discourse was preached in Lewin's Mead Chapel, on the 
Sunday after the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 
June 28th, 1838. It was dedicated to her mother, the Duchess 
of Kent, 



Christian Patriotism, 



111 



religion, may well direct us to consider our own duties as 
members of tlie civil community of which, she is the ap- 
pointed head and bond of union; and I hope for your 
serious attention, while I lead you to a train of thought 
which is in no way unsuitable for occasional introduction 
when we thus meet together to worship our common 
rather, but which may be deemed peculiarly appropriate 
to our present circumstances, and may be profitable to 
us as Christians, — for the duty of the Christian extends to 
every relation in life. 

"With such views I desire to offer you my sentiments 
on the nature and requirements of Christian patriotism ; 
and I know not how I can now better introduce them, than 
by a reference to the closing expression in those words 
which the aged Simeon uttered,^ when the child Jesus was 
presented in the temple. Then took he him up in his 
arms, and blessed God, and said. Lord ! now lettest thou 
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word ; for 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast pre- 
pared before the face of all people ; — a light to ligthen 
the Grentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." 

The glory of thy people Isbael. (Luke ii. 32.) 

In the prosecution of my design I shall, in the first 
place, offer some considerations respecting the duty of 
patriotism, in connection with the teachings of the 
Scriptures ; secondly, give, in some detail, my views re- 
specting the nature and influences of Christian patriotism ; 
and, in the third place, state some of those manifestations 
of it, which, in my judgment, may be 'expected from one 



* Luke ii. 28—32. 



112 



Sermon IX. 



so trained, and so disposed, as is the young Sovereign of 
these realms.* 

I. Our present purpose does not lead us specifically to 
contemplate the inestimable blessings which the Saviour 
of all men came to confer upon every child of mortality, 
but to view his relation to his own people ; not to dwell 
upon his love to all the world, but to survey that affection 
which he manifested to the country of his birth. Listen 
to his words, recorded by the same Evangelist, when, on 
approaching Jerusalem to finish the work assigned to him 
by his Heavenly Father, in the midst of the joyous accla- 
mations of the multitudes, hailing him as the promised 
King of Israel, he wept at the sight of the city, and said, 
^' If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things 
which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from 
thine eyes."f 

Who that contemplates this scene, can doubt tha.t the 
love of country formed one of those enlarged and elevated 
affections which filled the breast of him who loved all 
mankind ? And who that seeks for his duty, not merely in 
the express precepts, but also in the spirit of Christ, can 
hesitate in regarding patriotism as a virtue ? Yet have 
there been some who have censured the Christian religion, 
because (they say) it does not inculcate this affection. 
Others again have spurned the affection itself ; and have 
contended that it ought not to have place in the character 
of the Christian, And more still have looked upon it with 
a suspicious eye ; and in their zeal for the welfare of man- 

^ This third part of the sermon is here omitted, as inappropriate 
at the present distance of time. 

+ Luke xix. 42. 



Christian Patriotism, 



113 



Icind, have practically forgotten that the good of all can only 
he promoted hy each promoting the good of some. ^' ^ 
In that character in which contrasted virtues, seldom 
found combined, were all united and blended in dehghtful 
harmony, — all shown to be consistent, when in their just 
proportion and relation, — we find the strong features of 
genuine patriotism in no degree obliterated, but, on the 
contrary, made more glowing and resplendent by that 
universal benevolence taught him by his love to God, as 
well as by the great purposes for which he came. He 
who was to be the Saviour of all men, could not but love 
all men. He was the light of the world, the effulgence of 
that universal Parent whose sun of divine bounty riseth on 
the evil and on the good ; and it was not possible that the 
beams of his affection, any more than those of the love 
and mercy which he came to offer to all the sons of men, 
should be confined to the little spot where '^the sun of 
righteousness" actually arose. But it is among the proofs 
of the merciful adaptation of the Gospel to such a being 
as man, — who is first to imbibe love at the bosom which 
nourishes and cherishes him, and to proceed from the 
domestic charities to the love of neighbour, and from the 
love of friends to advance to the love of enemies, and from 
the love of country to expand his heart to the love of all 
mankind, — that he who showed us benevolence in its purest, 
most disinterested, most ennobling, most comprehensive 
forms, manifested also its elementary affections ; that he, 
in whose heart love was like the ocean, has enabled us to 
trace the copious springs from which much of its waters 
proceed. Because he loved God, and God loveth all, he 
loved all, and died for all : yet the closer bonds of human 
nature were also felt by him, and proved to be consistent 

1 



114 



Sermon IX. 



with, the sublimest benevolence. He felt the endearing 
regards of friendship ; for ' ' he loved Martha and her 
sister, and Lazarus." He felt the ties of filial affection — 
ties which cannot be dissolved without evil and degra- 
dation somewhere ; for in his expiring agonies, with 
tenderness deep but calm, he commended his mother to the 
care of the beloved disciple. He felt compassion for the 
sorrows which he was going to relieve, and wept with 
those whose tears he was about to dry up. And the 
calamities which he had laboured to avert from his country, 
excluded all thoughts of himself. When the women who 
followed him on the way to calvary were bewailing him. 
Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for 
yourselves and your children," was the affecting ex- 
pression of true patriotism ; and that noble supplication 
which shows the victory over every feeling of self, ^ ^ Father ! 
forgive them, for they know not what they do," breathes 
also the prayer, that still his country might be saved from 
the overwhelming ruin which his enemies had just im- 
precated upon themselves and upon their children, and 
which he had laboured to avert. 0 Jerusalem, Jeru- 
salem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them which 
are sent unto thee ! how often would I have gathered thy 
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under 
her wings, and ye would not ! " 

II. Such is real patriotism. He who loves his 
country with the love of principle and knowledge, will 
not love it the less because he endeavours to make Christ 
his guide in all things. 

There is, indeed, a love of one's country which is little 
more than an instinctive principle, without object, re- 
straint, enlightenment, or expansion. Even this is not 



Christian Patriotism, 



115 



without its use, if it cany tlie mind out of itself ; and, in 
most persons, it is perhaps the earliest stage of that 
generous and exalted principle which alone deserves the 
appellation of patriotism. On the other hand, it often 
perverts the sense of justice ; it makes men forget that 
other^ nations have rights as well as their own ; and that 
the all- comprehensive principle of Christian equity should 
be made the guide in the transactions and intercourse of 
nations, as well as in those of individuals. But so also is 
there a parental feeling which is more like an instinct of 
nature than an affection of reason ; prompting strongly, 
but without any view to the distant good of the object 
of it ; thwarting the desire of enlightened benevolence ; 
and leading to consult the little caprices and fancied rights 
of childhood, at the expense of justice and of wisdom, — 
All the natural affections require the guidance and purify- 
ing influence of religion ; and the comprehensive views of 
the Grospel, taking in all the world, and taking in both 
worlds, do give to the more limited charities that di- 
rection, and expansion, and refinement, which, without 
them, these could scarcely know. 

Christian patriotism will be just to other nations. 
Even among that people of ancient times, whose misguided 
love of their country led to exalt her empire on the ruin of 
all others, and whose ambition — though, in the unsearch- 
able plans of Providence, the means of preparing for the 
kingdom of peace and love — continually violated the plain- 
est principles of humanity, and trampled upon the rights 
of all around her, the enlightened ruler and philosopher 
taught, and many of less commanding power acted upon the 
principle, that justice was to be observed towards their 
enemies, — all being accounted enemies by the Eomans, 



116 



Sermon IX. 



« who were not subjects or submissive allies. The world 
has sometimes called those patriots, who have promoted, 
or attempted to promote, their country's aggrandisement, 
by violation of treaties, by falsehood, and by treachery, 
by the careless and causeless invasion of the peace and 
welfare of neighbouring nations, and by various other 
means, which, in the narrower walks of life, would make a 
man detested and shunned : but this is not Christian 
patriotism. Christian patriotism must be founded on the 
everlasting maxim of equity, Whatsoever ye would that 
men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." He 
who possesses this elevated disposition, will seek to pro- 
mote the interests of his own nation ; but he will never do 
it by u.nchristian means. 

It is a grand idea — and the increasing acknowledg- 
ment of it, however inconsistently maintained among 
those who had influence over the public mind, or in our 
national councils, was one of the proofs of a rapidly in- 
ceasing diffusion of enlightened principle, which while 
contemplating the f earfiil prospects of national calamity 
which the older among us have witnessed, cheered the 
heart with the hope that all would yet be well with our 
suffering and offending country; it is a grand idea, that 
nations are members of one great community, with com- 
mon interests and with common rights that no plea of 
ambition, or of selfish advantage, can justly be permitted 
to encroach upon those rights and interests ; and that 
no great and continued encroachment can be made upon 
them, without meeting with its appropriate punishment. 
The principle is as just as it is grand. Such subjects 
seldom come under our consideration from the pulpit ; and 
I will take the opportunity to read a passage from a public 



Christian Patriotism. 



117 



document, in wliich these sound and compreliensive views 
are recognized, and wliicli proves that they are not the 
theories of the speculative enthusiast, but the maxims of 
enlightened experience. It occurs in the address which 
Washington, when he closed his career of solid glory, by 
voluntarily retiring from power, published as a last legacy 
to his country, and which is a record of political wisdom, 
not surpassed, and probably unequalled, in ancient or in 
modern times. 

Observe good faith and justice," says the father of 
the people, ' ' towards all nations : cultivate peace and 
harmony with all. Eeligion and morality enjoin this 
conduct ; and ca.n it be that good policy does not equally 
enjoin it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and 
great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too 
novel example, of a people always guided by an exalted 
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, that in the 
course of time and things, the fruit of such a plan would 
richly repay any temporary advantage which might be lost 
by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence 
has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with 
its virtues ? " 

You must agree with me, my hearers, in thinking that 
such principles should be inscribed on the heart of every 
one who loves his country, and has any means of pro- 
moting its welfare. 

Christian patriotism, while it desires to promote, and 
must first promote, the welfare of its own community, 
will cherish a feeling sense of compassion to the wants 
and distresses of other nations. Modified, as patriotism 
ever will be in the breast where Gospel principles re- 
side, by that philanthropy which sees a neighbour in 



118 



Sermon IX. 



every one to wliom it can stretch out the arm to protect or 
the hand to cure, the Christian's love for his country, glow- 
ing there with most vivid flames, where it can best direct 
its vital warmth and influence, will extend to all the desire 
to do good as there is opportunity, and will, according to 
the talents possessed, employ those means of carrying 
it into effective operation, which the powerful engines 
of the present times afford in aid of individual exertion. 
National ambition must exist while men bear the image of 
the earthy ; but in proportion as they put on the image of 
the heavenly, will it aim to raise its cou.ntry among sur- 
rounding nations, by the influence of its justice, its good 
faith, its humanity; by IfeeMng, not its own prosperity 
alone, but the welfare of others also ; by the victories, 
not of its arms, but of its arts, its knowledge, its wisdom, 
and its virtu.es. In this noble career, the love of country 
will advance with the love of mankind ; for what exalts 
our own, mu.st contribute to raise others also. Human 
well-being is not a stock which is lessened by those 
who enjoy it as they ought. In a family, that member 
has the most happiness who shares it most in common 
with every other ; and every one wisely promoting his 
own, will be promoting at the same time the happiness of 
all. In a state, the man who grows rich by the upright 
employment of enterprise, ability, and industry, con- 
tributes to the general wealth far beyond his own personal 
gains. And every nation rising thus in the scale of know- 
ledge, wisdom, and virtue, will assist by its influence, and 
by its example, to raise others also. 

Perhaps there is no nation that has ever taken so high 
a rank in this respect as our own: and while religious 
philanthropy rejoices at contemplating the mighty ma- 



Christian Patriotism, 



119 



chines by which millions are enabled to aid in spreading 
the knowledge of salvation, and an acquaintance with 
those Scriptures which contain the knowledge and the 
terms ; by which the links of union between man and man 
are extended beyond all previous anticipation, and those 
whom the eye will never see, nor the ear hear, in this 
world, are aided in their journey heavenward ; — and while 
religious philosophy, observing the astonishing efforts 
of ^ benevolence which unexampled evils have caused, and 
the amazing development of energy and extension of 
knowledge to which the storms of the political world 
have so powerfully contributed, rejoices to trace the way 
in which He who directs the storm is bringing good out 
of evil ; — Christian patriotism can also rejoice, that amidst 
much that our nation has done which she should wish, 
undone, and much that she has left undone which she 
should have done, and large as her share in the work 
of destruction, and eager as her aspirings after earthly 
aggrandisement, she has taken a high and dignified 
station in those great objects which secure the rights 
and welfare of man, and which embrace the interests 
of the whole human race. 

II. But while Christian patriotism is thus extended, 
and elevated, and refined, by the precepts and example of 
him who taught us who our neighbour is, * and instructed 
us to pray that the kingdom of God may come, and 
His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it is in no 
degree directed by them to forget its own immediate 
duties : and in all these it fully coincides with the di- 
rections of the Gospel, simply appljdng these to the 
relation in which we stand to others as members of civil 
society, and to the community of which we are members. 



120 



Sermon IX. 



Its first duty is Allegiance, or an enligMened 
respect to tlie law, and obedience to the constituted 
authorities. This certainly does not require that we 
should be blind to the defects of our laws, or without 
solicitude for their improvement ; or that we should not 
watch over the execution of them, and the direction of 
legal power. On the contrary, an enlightened love of our 
country will prompt us, as we have opportunity, to 
extend the knowledge and observance of those principles 
on which all our laws and all our political institutions 
should be founded, by which they should be guided, and 
to which they should be reduced. All these may be 
summed up in one word, the comm-on welfare. All laws 
should have this object, and all power should be regarded 
as a trust to accomplish it. A warm and enlightened 
attachment to our political institutions, is perfectly consis- 
tent with an earnest desire to see their abuses corrected, 
and with the emplo^^ment of those means which the 
general diffusion of knowledge has rendered so power- 
ful to effect their extension and their utility. It is, 
for instance, the duty of every one who believes that 
the rights of any class of the community are unneces- 
sarily shackled, or that the ends of justice are not 
answered by the penal statutes of his country, to con- 
tribute what he can to the enlightenment of public 
opinion, and by the persevering employment of calm 
and temperate effort, to improve and correct, and 
thereby to avert evil. But the common welfare too im- 
mediately and obviously depends upon the maintenance 
of the principle of allegiance, to allow him to be regarded 
as otherwise than a violator of the rights of society, and 
a destroyer of the blessings of civil order and peace, who 



Christian Patriotism, 



121 



does not liimself maintaiii it, or wIlo leads otliers to vio- 
late it. 

^yiegiaiice is a principle of compreliensive operation. 
It begins in the narroTV relations of life, and tlience ex- 
pands, promoting, as it advances, tlie good order and 
peace of every little community in whicli it exists. It is 
clierislied in a family, where children learn to obey their 
parents in the Lord." It is cherished in every seminary 
for training the youthful mind, where order, and cheerful 
submission, and regard to the rights of those around, are 
taught and observed. It is cherished, wherever, in the 
relation of servant and master, or of inferior depending 
upon a superior, are maintained the duties of wise sub- 
ordination and good fidelity ; and it is cherished, too, 
wherever, in those various relations, the superior mani- 
fests a kind and thoughtful consideration of the welfare of 
those on whose services he has a claim ; respects their 
conscientious exercise of those rights over which he h as no 
just control; and aims, in the spirit of love, to make 
obedience a principle of the heart, and not the submission 
of the slave. 

Closely connected with the principle of allegiance is 
that of Loyalty, including the sentiment of attachment 
to the person in whom, as supreme, is vested the govern- 
ment of the country by the execution of its laws, and by 
faithfulness to the duties which arise from the relation 
existing between him and the people. It prompts to the 
obedience of duty ; but it has nothing in common with 
that blind subjection which is yielded, through necessity, 
to the tyrant. It sometimes leads to the noblest self- 
devotement ; but it does not resemble that prostration of 



122 



Sermon IX. 



spirit to the irresistible decrees of the despot, which impels 
to give up life at his mandate, without a struggle, and to 
welcome the message of death as conferring honour and 
happiness. It has within it the germ of ennobling en- 
thusiasm ; but it is an enthusiasm which does not spring 
from the dazzled imagination and the heated feelings, but 
which rests on the sound exercise of the judgment, and 
receives its fullest approval. It views the sovereign as 
the sovereign of right, and not of might ; as virtually 
deriving his power from those for whose welfare he 
is to employ it ; as holding a station most important and 
honourable, but involving most serious responsibilities ; 
as having a claim upon the obedience and co-operation of 
his subjects, for their own individual benefit, and for the 
good of the community at large, as well as for his own 
happiness ; as having a claim, too, upon their candour in 
judging of his motives and his conduct ; as, in return, 
under the obligation of duty to listen to their petitions, 
and even to their remonstrances, and, as far as the most 
comprehensive views of pubMc welfare will permit, to be 
influenced by them ; as virtually accountable to them for 
the right use of his high powers ; but, above all, as 
accountable to that Being whose providence hath invested 
him with them. The heart in which such loyalty resides, 
will rejoice in the personal welfare, and sympathize in the 
personal sorrows, of the Sovereign ; and just in pro- 
portion to the personal excellencies that mark his character, 
and to the indications of devotedness to duty afforded by 
his public conduct, will be that moral attachment which 
glows with the more earnestness through the perception of 
the amount of good which he may achieve, and which, 



Christian Patriotism. 



123 



existing in the highly-principled and reflective mind as an 
element of its own consciousness, becomes more fixed and 
intense from the knowledge that mjrriads participate in it. 

Christian patriotism will never look with jealousy and 
enyj on the advantages of another nation, yet must it 
view with peculiar complacency whatever promotes the 
welfare of its own : it can best understand what elements 
are essential to its prosperity : it can do most to promote 
it. The views of the Gospel will often lead to a different 
estimate of prosperity from what the world might form 
^without it ; but Christian patriotism may well rejoice in 
every thing that indicates improvement in social life, in 
national industry, in public zeal, in the expansion of 
public talent, in the promotion of the arts and sciences, 
in the products of national skill, and in that spirit of 
enterprise, and ardour of benevolent exertion, by which 
the advantages of its own country will be increasingly ex- 
tended beyond the limits of its political sway. 

With peculiar delight must Christian patriotism dwell 
on the promotion of those momentous objects of benevo- 
lence and religion, which, in proportion as they are 
effected, must contribute to the righteousness, on which 
alone, as a permanent and secure foundation, the great 
edifice of national welfare can be erected. So complicated 
are now the relations of social life, so extensive its mutual 
connections, that whatever achieves improvement in one 
direction, will eventually have its efiicacy in others ; and 
as no one can labour in every field, it is well that each 
should devote what talent he possesses to that in which a 
wise discretion tells him he can labour with effect. Should 
he feel that he is doing but little, when he compares 
the rill which he aims to conduct from the fountain of 



124 



Sermon IX. 



Cliristian love, with the majestic stream of public benevo- 
lence, yet let him remember that this comes from individual 
hearts. — That the great machine of social well-being may 
go on in its most perfect state, it is requisite that every 
spring should act, and every wheel should move, in its due 
time and relation. If we cannot discern how our respec- 
tive parts are connected with the interests of the whole, 
we cannot but perceive that they are with those of the 
little combination around us; and we may go on in our 
respective spheres of action with the full security, that 
while we are, in them, promoting peace, good order, and^, 
improvement, we are effectually contributing to the peace, 
the good order, and the improvement of that great sphere* 
which comprehends all. Nor should we ever permit our- 
selves to repine that we are not placed in more dignified 
stations of usefulness, and gifted with more commanding 
powers ; stiU less to envy and depreciate the success of 
those who are entrusted with higher talents. Charity 
envieth not;" and Christian patriotism, which rises above 
the distinction of sect and party, and exists in every one, 
will rejoice at all which is accomplished by others to pro- 
mote its great purposes ; and where it cannot itself labour, 
it will aid, by sympathy, and by dispersing from the 
breasts of others the chilling influences of indifference, to 
cheer the hearts, and to strengthen the hands, of those 
who can. 

Nevertheless, the numerous combinations of individuals 
to accomplish good for which solitary benevolence would 
be ineffectual, present to us means for personal exertion, 
or for pecuniary aid, which only require selection, and 
which leave no excuse for him who wraps up his talent in 
a napkin. The great purposes of benevolence are, to 



Christian Patriotism. 



125 



remove or lessen evil, and to prevent its entrance or its 
spread ; and if you can effectually lessen tlie distresses of 
want and sickness ; if you can aid the paralyzed ann 
of industry ; if you can reclaim the wanderer from the 
fold of Christ, or restore to his country the offender 
against its laws ; if you can assist in preparing the young 
for the duties of society, and in training them for the 
highest purposes of a life that is to leave its impress 
on eternity, — or, where all these are really out of your 
power, if, in the domestic relations, and in the wider con- 
nections of our social nature, you teach by precept and 
example the duties of the Gospel, the best guide to human 
welfare, — you are benefactors of your country. Pitiable 
must be the feelings of him who can look back upon 
no thoughtful persevering effort to do good in his day and 
generation, and who is obliged to acknowledge, that if the 
world is better, it is not through him, even if he have 
done nothing to make it worse. 

III. There is one in these lands, respecting whose 
power for good, or for evil, — great beyond ordinary ap- 
preciation, — no one can doubt; and who must often con- 
template the possession of it with a religious solicitude 
that cannot but give earnestness to the prayer for the 
guidance and blessing of Almighty God, — earnestness to 
the supplication, — '^Deliver us from evil." ^' ^ 

You will, I doubt not, as a Christian congregation, 
unite with me in commending Her Majesty to the pro- 
tection, guidance, and blessing of the God and Father of 
all, in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
May she be preserved from the moral dangers which must 
ever attend the elevated rank and power assigned to the 
earthly Sovereign by the Lord of all worlds and beings. 



Sermon IX. 



May she be enabled to carry into effect lier purposes of 
wisdom and benevolence, in the improvement of our 
national institutions, and the extension of national pros- 
perity. If it please the Supreme Disposer, may her reign 
be continued, with true happiness and glory to herself, 
through a long succession of years ; and when most of us 
shall be gathered to our fathers, may the general welfare 
be effectually promoted by her just and beneficent sway. 
When the termination of this arrives, and that cometh to 
her which is appointed to all, may she be found fully pre- 
pared to give a good account to that Master to whom it is 
the highest honour of the most elevated of mankind to be 
faithful servants ; and, for an earthly crown, receive 
one that fadeth not away. 



SERMON X. 



THE YOUNG EXHOETED TO WALK IN THE 
GOOD OLD WAY. 



JEEEMIAH VI., 16. 

THUS SAITH THE LOBD, STA^s^D YE m THE WAYS, AND SEE, 
AKD ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS, WHEEE IS THE GOOD 
WAY, AND WALK THEREIN, AND YE SHALL FIND REST 
FOR YOUR SOULS. 

One of the most instructive fables of heathen antiquity, 
represents Hercules (when arrived at years of reflection) 
as retiring into a solitary place to consider his future 
course of life. There, we are told, he was accosted by 
two females, one named Virtue, and the other Pleasure ; 
each of whom was desirous to prevail upon him to join 
her votaries. Pleasure presented to him her various 
allurements, and offered to him a life of ease and indul- 
gence. Virtue displayed to him the fallacy of her rival's 
pretensions, and showed him that true happiness could be 
found only in her service. — She did not however attempt 
to deceive him by false expectations : she fairly told him 
that he would have to overcome difficulties ; to pass 
through various trials ; to exercise fortitude and self- 
denial ; to make many sacrifices ; and to undergo many 
labours and dangers : but then it would not be for no- 



128 



Sermon X. 



thing. She showed him that, by the wise appointment of 
the gods, there was no valuable object of pursuit which 
was to be acquired by any other means ; and that thus 
alone he could gain the applause and esteem of the wise 
and good, the pleasures of self-approbation, and the 
favour of the gods. Hercules, we are told, was decided 
by her representations ; and his decision was a wise one. 

Those who have had common advantages for the ac- 
quisition of religious knowledge, cannot possibly doubt to 
which course wisdom directs, (whether that of religious 
duty, or the broad way in which so many walk, eagerly 
pursuing the present gratifications of interest or of plea- 
sure) ; yet it is only as experience enlightens and extends 
the views of the individual, that he sees the wisdom of 
virtue, and the folly and danger of vice, in their just nature 
and degree. It is utterly impossible to engraft upon the 
minds of the young, (however well disposed,) all those 
impressive views which prove to the experienced observer, 
that godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as 
well as of that which is to come. With the infatuation of 
folly, they sometimes regard his representations as merely 
designed to throw a gloom over the period of cheerful- 
ness ; and (by a natural but most unhappy exaggeration) 
they mistake the sober lessons of prudence and religion, 
for the severe austerity of the monk, or the superstition of 
the devotee. Where the mind has not been early trained 
to that self-control, which (by one whose want of it ruined 
his fair prospects of reputation and happiness, and brought 
him to an untimely grave,) was pronounced to be wisdom's 
j'oot, — where the young have not, by early discipline, in- 
struction, and example, been taught to look beyond the 
mere present ends of their conduct, to seek for some 



The Good Old Way, 



129 



htiglier object than mere gratification, to consult some 
other rule than the mere caprice or impulse of the moment, 
— where, in short, they have not had impressed upon their 
hearts that fear of God which is the beginning of Wisdom, 
— there is little room to hope, but that they will make the 
experiment for themselves, and find by their own wretched 
experience, by the loss of health, of reputation, of in- 
ternal satisfaction, that it is an invariable law of the 
moral government of God, that peace is not to be found 
in the paths of wickedness. For such we can only hope 
and pray, that they may early receive some check in the 
career of vice : and that the seeds which, in early life, 
may have been received into the mind, without producing 
much fruit, which may even seem to have been lost or 
destroyed, may revive and take a deep root, under the in- 
fluence of afiliction or some other warning of Providence ; 
and in their turn acquire the leading power in the mind. 
Were it not for the hope that such might eventually be 
the case, often must the religious parent or friend look 
forward with the most melancholy apprehension, and see 
nothing to comfort under the painful emotions of the 
present. 

But there are many who reach the years of reflection, 
led along, by the gentle hand of parental tenderness, in 
the good old way. Little exposed to difiiculty and trial 
they are good and virtuous, because out of the way of 
evil. Their principles have been but little called into 
exercise ; and it is not easy to know their strength. 
There is room for hope ; but there is also much room for 
solicitude. Their dispositions are good,, their tempers 
amiable, and their present habits favourable to duty. 
But nothing has yet given them that decision of principle, 

K 



130 



Sermon X. 



wMch can only be acquired by trial. It sometimes hap- 
pens that their very loveliness of character exposes them 
to peculiar temptations ; and, at any rate, it is impossible 
for them to make much progress in life, without having in 
various ways to encounter those snares and dangers, by 
which many, of as fair promise as themselves, have made 
shipwreck of a good conscience. 

There is still another and a higher class : — those who 
not only have been led in the ways of wisdom, but have 
been early taught that most difficult of all lessons, to 
subdue themselves : — who, without having had their spirits 
broken, or their vivacity destroyed, have had early im- 
pressed on their hearts a sense of religious duty: — who 
have been taught by every means, which parental affection 
and experience could suggest, to fear the Lord betimes, to 
think of obedience to His will as their first and chief con- 
cern, and in some good measure to make the directions of 
religion the habitual guide of their conduct. The found- 
ation has been well laid for truth, for integrity, for purity, 
for sobriety, for benevolence, for piety : and though he 
who knows the difficulties and dangers of the journey of 
life, will not even in such cases be too confident in his ex- 
pectations, he will feel that there is good room for hope. 
He may indulge the hope that, by the habitual use of 
those means by which alone religion can have its proper 
influence in the heart, it will maintain the ground which 
it has obtained, will be a lamp unto the feet and a light 
unto the path, will keep the feet from stumbling, and will 
direct them in the paths of everlasting peace. 

Between these different classes, there are numerous 
gradations : and I hope there are many among my young 
hearers, who have upon their minds a prevailing desire to 



The Good Old Way, 



131 



live a virtuous and Clmstiaii life. I hope there are many 
who have not their course wholly to choose ; but who have 
determined that, with the blessing of God, they will walk 
in the path which their Saviour has pointed out to them, 
and in which he trod before them. — There may also be 
others who have not yet thought much on the subject ; 
but whose purposes, as far as they can be said to have 
been formed, are also favourable to the dictates of duty. 
— I have nothing now to say to the dissipated and the dis- 
solute, to those who yield up their hearts without restraint 
to the follies and vices of their profligate and abandoned 
companions, or who have little or no sense of religion to 
€heck their wild career. To such (if any of those now 
present are unhappily of this class) what I have now to 
say can be attended with little effect. My object is not to 
show you the wisdom, the necessity, of living in the fear 
of God ; but to assist you a little in doing so. — And to all 
among you, to whom experience has not yet rendered 
advice and exhortation unnecessary, and whose disposi- 
tions and intentions are on the side of religion, I wish to 
offer a few suggestions of religious prudence, which may 
aid in preserving them from those evils, which to others 
have proved so injurious, and in some cases so fatal, which 
have wounded their consciences and weakened their re- 
ligious strength," and sometimes made them fall to rise no 
more. — To such I would say, in the sentiments of the 
prophet, ''Stand ye in the way and see," carefully con- 
sider the path in which you are going, whether it is in 
reality the right one : ask for the good old way, — the way 
which religious wisdom hath long ago prescribed, and 
which God hath always owned and blessed. And then 
''walk therein," resolve to keep close to that way, pro- 



132 



Sermon X. 



ceed, and persevere therein : and (as the pious Henry well 
observes on the text) ^^you will find that your walking in 
that way will be easy and pleasant; you will enjoy both 
your God and yourselves ; and the wa}^ will lead you to 
true rest. Though it cost you some pains to walk in that 
way, 3^ou will find an abundant recompense at your 
journey's end. 

In accordance with the direction in ni}^ text, let me 
exhort you ; — 

1. To consider it as an object of great importance, to^ 
acquire just notions of religious duty. The grand means 
are in the power of every one of you who can read his 
Bible. In various parts of that all-important volume, but 
particularly in the New Testament, you will find directions 
which can scarcely be misunderstood ; and which together 
form that rule of life by which we must be acquitted or 
condemned at the last great day. — I do not urge you to^ 
neglect any kind of reading which has a tendency to cul- 
tivate the understanding, to refine the taste and raise it 
above low sordid pursuits and pleasures, or to cherish the- 
affections which duty approves. There is a time for all 
things ; and those who have leisure to give to such objects, 
will thus employ it wisely and well. Some portion, how- 
ever, of that leisure, particularly that which the Lord's 
day most commonty affords, should be given to the more 
direct culture of religious principle, — to the acquisition of 
knowledge respecting God, and our duty to Him, to our 
fellow-men, and to ourselves, — to the perusal of books 
which have as their immediate object to impress the grand 
truth ol: religion upon the heart, and to cherish in our- 
"breasts and strengthen the sense of duty and the devout 
affections. 



The Good Old Way, 



133 



But, above all, let me urge you to the tliouglitful 
perusal of some portion of tlie Scriptures daily. I hope 
you believe that they contain the Revelation of the will of 
God : and I a.m sure that those who neglect to give a 
frequent and sincere attention, to those parts especially 
which show us the will of God respecting our conduct and 
dispositions, act the same unwise and hazardous part with 
the pilot, who, while steering over a dangerous ocean, 
seldom or never consults his charts and his compass. God 
has, it is true, placed within us a monitor, which (if we 
faithfully listen to it) will seldom fail to show us the way 
that we should go. But this monitor requires to be cor- 
rected, strengthened, enlightened, by the Eevealed "Will 
of God : and conscience, if duly enlightened, can scarcely 
fail to show us, that it is our bounden duty to seek for 
Divine guidance ; and to accept gratefully, and to employ 
sincerely, that which God hath been pleased to bestow. 
It must be a very proud heart which supposes that it 
needs not the aid and instruction which the Scriptures 
afford us. 

I do not recommend an indiscriminate perusal of the 
Scriptures, particularly of the Old Testament. In that 
daily reading which I would urge upon my young friends, 
I should wish them to confine themselves to portions of no 
great length, the direct tendency of which is to cultivate 
the devout affections, or to enlighten the mind with the 
knowledge of duty, and impress upon it the awful sanc- 
tions of the Gospel : whose direct tendency, in short, is to 
further the growth of religion in their hearts. If, in 
reading the Scriptures they would mark such passages, or 
keep a register of them, they would find it of considerable 



134 



Sermon X. 



service. To these I would have them principally confine 
themselves, when reading for the express purposes of en- 
lightening and invigorating their consciences, and cherish- 
ing their devout affections : and on these they should 
allow their minds to dwell; frequently considering how 
far their conduct and dispositions agree with the examples 
and precepts which they contain. Happy are they who, 
by the wise direction of parents, have had the serious 
perusing of the Scriptures made an habitual object witk 
them, from their early years ; — to whom we can say, as 
the Apostle could to Timothy, "From a child thou hast 
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 
wise unto salvation." But, if this has been too much 
neglected, do not, my young friends, consider it as too 
late to begin. You may still learn to take delight in the 
emplo3Tnent ; and at any rate you will find it profitable. 
And, if you pursue it as an object of duty, it will become 
pleasant ; and this in proportion as it does you good. 

I am fully persuaded that you cannot proceed long 
in this employment, without being convinced that half- 
measures will not do in religion ; — that Grod must have 
the first place in your hearts, or the world will rule there. 
I do not call upon you, my young friends, to sacrifice the 
innocent pleasures and active enjoyments of your period 
of life. Yours is the season of cheerfulness and activity ; 
and I have no wish to see it gloomy. But I do most 
earnestly wish, that your pleasures should all be such as 
will leave no sting behind them ; such as you can enjoy 
with a conscience void of offence. Let pleasure (I here 
mean innocent pleasure) be pursued only as a subordinate 
object : — let it never be allowed to engross that time and 



The Good Old Way, 



135 



attention, wliich. are due to tlie proper duties of your situ- 
ations in life, or to those objects whicli are of infinitely 
liigher moment than any present gratification : — and never 
entertain the idea, that thoughtless, gidd}-, dissipation is 
productive of real happiness, any more than it is consis- 
tent with duty. 

I would therefore urge you from a regard to your 
happiness as well as to your duty, — 

2. That you determine, with the blessing of God, to 
make it your first and chief concern, to fear, to love, and 
to obey Him. — Would that we could produce in the mind 
of any one this determination, so as to fix it there as a 
steady principle of conduct ; for then every thing would 
be done that our best wishes for you dictate. It is this 
which is most wanting. Persons are usually less deficient 
in the knowledge of what is right, than in the steady 
actuating determination to practice it. I do not say that 
he who is wavering in his conduct, and sometimes follows 
the calls of folly or vice, without altogether leaving the 
guidance of religion, is in the same danger with him who 
thinks little of religion, and in no degree aims to obey it ; 
but I cannot doubt that he can thus know little of the 
peace and comfort of religion. Conscience will reprove 
him more sharply for his neglects of duty, than him who 
has long slighted her authority and stified her upbraidings. 
The time will come when this last also will feel her 
anguish : but for the present he has less to embitter what 
he calls his pleasure, than those have who have enough 
religion to show them that they are doing wrong, and 
enough tenderness of conscience to punish them for it. 
As you would wish therefore to obtain the present satis- 



136 



Sermon X. 



factions and peace of religion, he religious, Fairly and 
faitMnlly make this your aim. Make it your invariable 
object to live as in the sight of Grod : and do not let the 
apprehension of the present reproaches of conscience in- 
duce you to slur over your deficiencies and your wander- 
ings. And this leads me to recommend to you strongly, — 
3. A frequent, indeed I would say daily, reflection on 
your conduct. Self-knowledge can only be acquired by 
self-examination and inspection : and, to discharge this 
important duty well, it must be done frequently. Indeed 
the direct duties of religion generally require but little 
time : and that may in most cases be recovered from 
sleep. A few minutes spent quietly at the close of the 
day, in considering how far your temper and conduct 
during it have been such as they ought to be, in fairly 
questioning your own hearts as in the sight of Grod, are 
minutes well spent ; and, if they are properly improved, 
will contribute most powerfully to lead you on in the way 
everlasting. Judge not that ye be not judged,'' is an 
important lesson with respect to others : but, with respect 
to ourselves, we may reverse the precept, and say ' ' Judge, 
that ye be not judged." He who goes on without self- 
examination, can scarcely improve as he ought ; and the 
probability is that, so far from improving, he will go 
farther and farther from the mark at which as a Chris- 
tian he should aim. — An excellent heathen philosopher 
enjoined upon his disciples, that, before they gave 
themselves to sleep, they should thrice revolve the actions 
and events of the day. And here, as in many other in- 
stances, the Christian may learn from the heathen. His 
directions have been thus represented in English by Dr. 
Watts.— 



The Good Old Way. 



137 



' ' Nor let soft slumber close thine eyes, 
Ere every action of the clay \ 
Impartially thou dost survey. \ 
' Where have my feet chose out their way ? I 
' What have I learnt v/here'er I've been, 
' From all IVe heard, from all I've seen ? 

* What know I more that's worth the knowing ? 

* What have I done that's worth the doing ? 

' What have I sought that I should shun V ^ 
' What duties have I left undone ? V 

* Or into what new follies run ? ' I 
These seK- enquiries are the road 

That leads to virtue and to God." 

There is a little work, wliich many tave found of un- 
'■comnion value in assisting them to acquire the knowledge 
of themselves : I refer to Mason's Self -Knowledge, which 
I recommend to the serious perusal of those of my young 
hearers, who have sincerely at heart to know and to do 
their duty.* 

I am sure that no thoughtful person can doubt as 
to the importance of my 

4th Point of advice ; — that you exercise great caution 
in the choice of your companions, (especially of your inti- 
mate companions) ; and that you most carefully avoid all 
such conversation, and such books, as have a tendency 
to corrupt the mind, to introduce corrupt thoughts and 
desires, to make you think less highly of religious duty, 
to lessen your reverence for virtue, and your abhorrence of 
vice. Such books, and such conversation, have the most 
injurious effect on the mind ; and, more perhaps than any 

* A work published since the composition of this Sermon, 
and for which Dr. C. often expressed a very high value, may be 
Jhere noticed; — that of the Kev. H. Ware, on the Formation of 
ithe Christian Character. Ed. 



138 



Sermon X. 



otlier cause, pollute the heart, and lead to licentiousness- 
and to wretchedness. It may not be always in your power 
to avoid hearing language, which even the heathen moralist 
would condemn : but it is always in your power to avoid 
joining in it, or in any other way encouraging it. And, if 
your heart is sincere when you pray Lead me not into 
temptation," you will take care not imnecessarily to ex-^ 
pose yourselves to it. 

I would urge you my young friends, — 

5thly, — Carefully to avoid the common error, of forming 
your notions of duty upon the conduct and expressions of 
those around you. In any case in which duty is concerned^ 
the question with the Christian never can be, what are the 
maxims and practice of the world around him ; but what 
are really the directions of the conscience, and of that 
standard by which we must be acquitted or condemned at 
the last great day. I do not wish you to set up as rigid 
censors of others. Circumstances may enable you with 
propriety, and with effect, to give Christian advice to 
those around you : but, till experience and stability of 
character have given influence to your advice, your great 
object must be to preserve your own consciences void of 
offence towards God and towards man. By no means aim 
at singularity. Where duty is not concerned, follow the 
world. But be careful not to follow it too far. Let it 
ever be impressed upon your minds, that at the great day 
of accounts, every one must bear his own burden; that 
then every one must stand or fall, not by the conduct and 
character of those around him, but by his own. 

To preserve you from the evil that is in the world, 
I urge you farther, — 

6tlily, — To cultivate and strengthen in your hearts, by 



The Good Old Way. 



139 



habitual exercise, tlie firmness and decision of character, 
tliat holy fortitude and resolution of soul, which will arm 
you against the influence of false shame, and against the 
temj)tations which worldly interest or pleasure may pre- 
sent. I have no wish that you should despise the good 
opinion of those around you. If they are wise and good, 
their approbation is a treasure ; if they have too little 
regard to wisdom and duty, still their good will has its 
value ; and, where you can have it, without any sacrifice 
of principle, by kindness and courtesy, gain and enjoy it. 
But I beseech you to consider that human praise is dearly 
bought, if purchased the neglect or breach of duty, by 
the loss of our peace of mind or of the approbation of 
Grod : and that it is infinitely better to bear the temporary 
pains of ridicule, and worldly censure and disgrace, than 
to incur the reproaches of conscience, and the displeasure 
of Almighty God. And, with respect to the temptations 
which interest or pleasure present, to draw you off from 
the good old way, be assured that there is only one way to 
be safe, — that is, to resist them with firmness and steadi- 
ness. I would say, too, that there is only one way to 
be happy ; for (as has been well observed by an excellent 
writer) ' 4t is as impossible for any creature to work out a 
happiness to itself, in a way contrary to that which its 
Creator hath appointed, as it is for that creature to make 
itself anew, or to new-model the whole universe about it." 
It is an indisputable maxim, that happiness can be securely 
found, only where God hath placed it ; and that He hath 
placed it in the exercise of uprightness and truth, of tem- 
perance and purity, of benevolence and piety. 

I fear I have already trespassed on your patience ; but 



140 



Sermon X. 



I must not pass by what is among the most essential 
points, — 

7thly, — That, with a view to fulfil your duty from the 
principles of religious obedience, to check every sinful 
desire and disposition, to preserve you in the hour of trial, 
to urge you on in the way that leadeth to life everlasting, 
and to obtain the favour of Almighty Grod, you cherish in 
your hearts an impressive habitual sense of His constant 
presence and of your accountableness to Him, by steady 
attention to the means of religion, and, in a particular 
manner, by private prayer. If you neglect this, there is 
too much room for apprehension that your goodness will 
be like the morning cloud or the early dew which soon 
passeth away. At any rate it cannot be expected that 
the principle of godliness will grow in your soul, that 
you will stand firm in the midst of temptation, that, 
in short, you will live in the fear of the Lord. I therefore 
urge it upon you, my young friends, with the earnestness 
of conviction, and of solicitude for your welfare, that you 
regard it as a duty which you must on no account neglect, 
to hold daily communion with your Maker in the offering 
of private prayer. The day begun with serious reflection 
and prayer, and ended with seK- examination and prayer, 
will most probably be spent as every day should be. — To 
aid you in this duty, you may usefully employ the assist- 
;ance of such books as Dr. Toulmin's Manual of Prayers 
for private devotion, and Mr. Merivale's Devotions for the 
Closet ; and (at an earlier period) Mr. Wellbeloved's De- 
votional Exercises : — but do not let any thing prevent you 
from frequently leaving all forms, and devoutly and 
.seriously expressing before Him, who readeth the heart, 



The Good Old Way. 



141 



Who knowetli our frame, and pitieth them that fear Him, 
your wants and desires, jouv feelings of gratitude and of" 
contrition, your purposes of holy obedience, and suppli- 
cations for those gracious aids which He affords to those 
who sincerely seek His favour. — The experience of the 
religious in all ages will bear me out in asserting, that 
humble earnest prayer, offered by the individual in the 
sincerity of his heart to his all-seeing Witness and Friend, 
has, above all other means, the power of producing and 
strengthening the principle of piety in the soul, and is 
essential to render all other means effectual. It procures 
for us strength, guidance, and consolation from the Father 
of our spirits : and, united with corresponding endeavours 
to do His will, it will enable you so to live, that, in 
all circumstances, you may look up with comfort to God as 
your gracious Father, and may indulge the joyful hope 
that you will be found among those whom your Lord 
will own as his, at the last great day. 

May the Divine blessing accompany what you have 
heard ; and impress upon your hearts every holy pin*pose 
you may form of obedience to His will. 



SERMON XL 



OENAMENTS AND INFLUENCE OF THE 
FEMALE SEX. 



1 PETER III., 3, 4. 

WHOSE ADORIS^ING LET IT NOT BE THAT OUTWARD AD0R2^ING 
OF PLAITING THE HAIR Am) OF WEARING OF GOLD, OR 
OF PUTTING ON OF APPAREL ; BUT LET IT BE THE 
HIDDEN MAN OF THE HEART IN THAT WHICH IS NOT 
CORRUPTIBLE, EVEN THE ORNAMENT OF A MEEK AND 
QUIET SPIRIT, WHICH IS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD OF GREAT 
PRICE. 

The Apostle does not forbid the outward adorning ; but lie 
urges upon Christian women that this should be subservient 
to the inward adorning of the heart. — Our Saviour employs 
a similar mode of expression, when he says to his disciples 
(John vi. 27,) Labour not for the meat which perisheth, 
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." 
I believe that, in these and other things (having in them- 
selves no spiritual quality, but depending, for their relation 
to the welfare of the soul, on the use which is made of 
them,) the Christian is left at liberty ; though required to 
use that liberty with discretion and moral caution ; re- 
quired carefully to avoid whatever, in kind or degree, 
is felt to be evil in its effects upon the individual mind, — 
evil in exciting the working of vanity and self-conceit and 



Ornaments and Influence of the Female Sex, 143 



contempt for others, — evil in occupying an undue pro- 
portion of thouglit and time, — evil in diverting too much, 
of the pecuniary resources from the channel in which 
Christian love directs them to flow, — evil in exciting in the 
minds of others, by an undue stress on outward adorn- 
ment, that eager desire after it, which may lead them 
to expenditure, and to the employment of means to defray 
it, in which uprightness and charity would be alike 
forgotten. 

But such are the doublings and intricacies of the heart, 
that the greatest simplicity in the adorning of the person 
may be made, in some, the means of cherishing the same 
Tanity and imagination of superiority, that, in the case of 
others, are produced by excess of ornament and undue 
■attention to the decoration of the person. No external 
circumstances can exclude pride from the heart. When 
the Cynic disdainfully trod over the rich carpet of the 
liighly-gifted disciple of Socrates, and said Thus I 
trample on Plato's pride," the reply was as just as it was 
severe, Yes, and with much greater pride." It is 
possible to employ those outward ornaments, which the 
general custom of the age and nation render suitable to the 
individual's period of life and station in the social circle, 
without having the mind set upon them or engrossed by 
them, — without having its attention diverted from the 
great purposes of our present existence, or its pursuit of 
them hindered. It is possible to keep the heart loose to 
ihem, while they are employed as others employ them on 
the outward person. Yet this is one of the trials of the 
young ; and this t\ ise and elevated state of mind, where 
not early produced by the well-principled wisdom of 
parental friends; is to be attained only by cultivating right 



144 



Sermon XI. 



views as to the purposes and duties of life, — bv tlie im- 
provement of the understanding, and by forming a taste 
for what is solid and useful, — and above all, by cherishing 
those sentiments and dispositions which respect unseen 
realities. 

Tours, ni}^ Young Friends, is the period when the 
spirit should be cheerful and buoyant. With an ordinary 
degree of health, you reasonably look forward to maturer 
age ; and even with causes of shortened life, which in the 
later periods would soon prove too powerful, the great 
Being by whom we live hath provided sources of resto- 
ration and vital energy, which lead us often to say, there 
is youth on their side." Nevertheless, on the other hand, 
settled vigour is not attained ; and often the bud of ^^outh 
has its canker-worm. But supposing life certain, still the 
morning hours are the preparation for the day. The seed- 
time is the preparation for the harvest. The morning 
hours are often bright and joyous ; — the spring in its 
ordinary influences is cheering even to the care-worn 
heart, its gales are refreshing even to the exhausted 
spirits ; — and to the heart and fancy of inexperienced 
youth, it is the forerunner of happiness to come, and with 
it come hope and joyous emotion. But there is a period 
beyond : and such is the nature of the human mind, that, 
if all were spring, spring itself would lose much of its- 
power to charm. 

The Heavenly Father hath made every thing beautiful 
in its season, and good for that for which it was designed, 
if we wisely choose the good and consider the end. "We 
expect not at your period of life, my Young Friends, the 
matured consideration of the disciplined mind, — disci- 
plined by the trials of life, disciplined by its toils and 



Ornaments and Infiiicrux of the Female Sex, 145 



cares, above all disciplined hj the long-coiitinued training 
of religion. We desire not to see the period of youtli 
prematurely marked by solicitude, or unable to taste 
tbe natural onjoyments of life. But we have yet to learn 
that the dawning light of religion and duty ever made the 
sun of nature less cheering or invigorating; or that the 
influence of that faith, which makes the Heavenly Eather 
seen in all His works, renders those works less delightful ; 
or that the considerations of Heavenly wisdom, and the 
choice of that part which shall never be taken away, 
render us less able to enjoy the beauties of God's provi- 
dence in the world around, or lessen the delight in the 
charities of home and friendship, and in those pleasures 
which leave no sting behind them. 

The religious Instructor, who has the Gospel of Christ 
as his guide, sees that religion is not intended to prevent 
the course of Nature or of Providence ; but to make it 
as much as possible, conduct to good, to preserve from 
what would make us lose sight of our Heavenly desti- 
nation ; — not to take us out of the world, but to guard us 
from abusing its good things, and to keep us from the 
evils which rire in it. All this requires the exercise of 
serious thought , and it is well that, — before the fetters of 
earthly cares, and the engrossing nature of even innocent 
pursuits, have obtained too fixed a hold upon the mind, — 
the young should, by the aid of that blessing which they 
should be early led habitually to seek, cherish that im- 
pressive sense of the purposes of life, which shall prevent 
the formation, or check the growth, of frivolity, and of the 
eager seeking after outward gratification, — which shall 
prevent the fearful character being impressed upon them, 



146 



Sermon XI. 



of being lovers of pleasiire more than the lovers of 
God.'' 

While, therefore, we slight not the qualities of external 
gracefulness, and the adorning of the accomplishments, 
which, in their place and in their degree, may contribute- 
to it, — often connected as this is with health of body, and 
often promotive of that refinement and delicacy of mind^ 
which are limited to no station in society, and which true 
religion cherishes, by its sentiments and its spirit ; — while^ 
the outward adorning, whether of person or manner or 
acquirement, are not neglected, — let the highest con- 
>sideration of the Female Young be the incorruptible 
ornament of the soul within. In the words of the sacred 
poet, who consecrated his powers to religion, and who- 
hath led many a child of immorality to it, 

Then let me set my heart to find 
Inward adorning of the mind ; 
Knowledge and virtue, truth and grace, — 
" These are the robes of richest dress." 

Of this ' • blest aj^i^arel " he says, — 

It never fades, it ne'er grows old, 
" Nor fears the rain, nor moth, or mould ; 

It takes no spot, but still refines ; 
*' The more 'tis worn, the more it shines." 

I do not wish to lead the Female Young to any undue 
appreciation of themselves individually ; or of the station 
and influence of their sex. But a right estimate of the 
latter often leads to more correct views of the former ; 
which, by j)ointing to higher views and aims than those to 



Ornaments and Inji'mnce of tlie Female Sex. 147 



wliicli female education has too frequently been almost 
exclusively directed, introduce perhaps loTrer thoughts of 
themselves, check the workings of vanity, give a right 
direction to the love of admiration if it exists, sobers it 
doTvn into the desire of esteem and approbation, and 
cherishes, with a sense of duty and the disposition to pre- 
pare for its claims, that gentle modest}^, which is among 
the most beautiful ornaments of the female sex, and which 
never yet, when sterling, was a solitary one. 

And here I would particularly address myself to young 
females, in the character of Daughters and Sisters. — All 
may not be called to fulfil the duties of Wife and Mother : 
and I am now particularly addressing those, who are too 
young to sustain those relations. Here, my Young Friends, 
your influence and means of service are great. The cheer- 
fulness of youth, when combined with dutiful and watch- 
ful love, often enables the Daughter to do much in 
refreshing the wearied spirit of the Father, worn by the 
trials of life, irritated by its vexations, and depressed by 
its disappointments. In such cases, his painful feelings 
are too much shared by the one who is his fellow-helper, 
to enable her to smooth his ruffled brow, and to cheer his 
dejected spirits, so easily as it can be done, with little 
effort, by the cheerful affection of the well-trained 
daughter. It may be her blessed privilege to do still 
more. By making him a partaker of her innocent plea- 
sures, more especially by communicating to him the warm 
glow of her as yet unchilled Christian benevolence, she 
may do much in checking that spirit of worldly-minded- 
ness, which is one of the most ensnaring temptations inci- 
dent to the busy life of manhood. 

Nor is the influence of the Sister over the Brother less 



148 



Sermon XI. 



valuable. In tlie Parents lie sees those, wlio, lie believes, 
have outlived that keen sense of pleasure, which Youth 
possesses ;' but he knows that the sister can feel it ; and, 
by giving her ready sympathy in all his hopes, and sharing 
with him his innocent enjoyments, and increasing them by 
her accomplishments and taste, she may give them a 
higher relish, and thus materially aid in restraining him 
from those which are sinful. She may show him by her 
example, and by the outpouring of her own pure heart 
and elevated affections, that religion's ways are indeed the 
ways of pleasantness, that all her paths are peace ; and 
thus cherish in his heart those desires after holy obe- 
dience, and that fear of the Lord, which parental care had 
implanted, and which is indeed the only sure foundation 
of true wisdom. 

The sexes have their respective purposes in life as- 
signed to them by the Lord of all ; and for these they are 
adapted by their respective characteristics of body and of 
mind. There is even, in the intellectual powers and capa- 
bilities, a general distinction : and, without saying how 
far it is desirable that this should decide the course of 
education, and how much of the diversity observable may 
be attributed to education, it is certain that the physical 
structure of the frame points out, that woman was not 
designed for the employments of masculine strength, nor 
to compete in the struggles of public life, nor to engage 
in those exertions which require a long- continued exercise 
of bodily vigour. It is certain that the physical texture 
prepares woman to have most of quickness and sensibility, 
most gentleness and docihty, most patience and meekness, 
most promptness in judging and vividness of imagination, 
most sensibility and quickness of fancy ; but that it natu- 



Ornaments and Influence of the Female Sex. 149 



rally indisposes her, and (unless counteracted by education) 
in some measure disqualifies her, for that persevering 
energetic research, that long-continued vigour of appli- 
cation, that intense closeness of investigation, by which 
the mighty processes of human improvement have been 
carried on, and by which indeed they have been devised. 

Far be it from me to say that, when the female mind, 
gifted with peculiar powers, and directed in its efforts into 
a peculiar channel, rises above the pursuits even of the 
most cultivated part of its sex, and excels even where few 
men have been able to excel, the possessor of such quali- 
fications should be viewed with other than admiring senti- 
ments ; — especially if, as in the case of the one so distin- 
guished in the present day (Mrs. Somerville), her superior 
powers and attainments are associated with a due attention 
to the employments of a domestic nature, and adorned 
with that which is incorruptible, — a meek and modest 
spirit. But for the great purposes of human life, we 
would rather see the qualities which "have adorned the 
names of Barbauld and Hamilton, and More and Edge- 
worth ; and the influence of their writings will be much 
longer experienced, and the character of their minds will 
much longer live, in the intellectual and moral excellencies 
which they have produced or fostered in others. Men 
might have done what the most distinguished women in 
the walks of science have done ; but no man could have 
done what Miss Edgeworth and Mrs. Barbauld have in 
different ways accomplished, — the one for the moral and 
sound intellectual purposes of this life, — and the other for 
the training of the soul to a meetness for the life to come. 

But all women do not possess the high intellectual 



150 



Sermon XI. 



qualifications, of wliicli we have been speaking. Tew 
probably would possess tbem, even were their powers 
more judiciously called forth and directed than as yet is 
common ; but all j^ossess those capabilities, and all may 
possess those qualities, which will, without perhaps 
making them known be^^ond the circle of personal agency, 
give them an influence of the most beneficial kind, in the 
relations in which they stand to the world aroimd them. 
All may not be able to write with the glowing characters 
of imagination ; or with the vigour of intellectual strength ; 
or with the persuasive words of comprehensive experience 
and spiritual wisdom. All cannot possess those brilliant 
qualities, which often fascinate to delude, and which, how- 
ever great their power for a time, can endure only for a 
time. — But the love of truth and kindness may rule the 
tongue and guide the pen. The sweetness of gentleness, 
of humility, and of charity, may form the expression of 
the countenance. The clearness of judgment which reli- 
gion and conscienciousness give, may be ready at all times 
to discern the path of sound discretion. The simpleness of 
purpose which the intimate sense of duty forms, may be 
continually present to preserve that disinterested upright- 
ness, which is too often lost sight of in the ensnaring 
transactions of the world. There may always be possessed 
that devotedness of heart to the purposes of love, — ^that 
patient and cheerful self-sacrifice, — that unobtrusive atten- 
tive thoughtfulness for others, — that mild compassion, — 
which continually makes woman the angel of mercy. 
There may always be in her heart, that abiding operating 
piety, which, without display, without excitement, perhaps 
without being perceived out of the circle where the mani- 



Ornaments and Influence of ilie Female Sex. 151 



festations of it must be discerned, slieds its iiifiiieiice to 
guide, to strengtlien, to soothe, to support, to restrain, and 
to restore. 

Were Vv'onian alT\'a.ys trained, and could they ahvays 
train themselyes, for such qualifications, what might she 
not become to human welfare ! She would then be pre- 
pared for the sacred duties of the mother or maternal 
friend; or to be in other ways the former and guide of the 
youthful judgment and affections. She woidd be prepared 
to be the companion and the friend of man. She would 
make his home the dearest place on earth. In early days 
she would give her influence to the side of virtuous and 
honourable purpose. She would be the support of every 
thing excellent in her brothers and their associates; and 
would aid to raise them above the influence of degrading 
society, refine their moral taste, elevate their ambition, 
and aid them to aim at higher applause than that of the 
worthless. Her influence without observation, (I need 
not say without ostentatioriy for with it she could have but 
little, ) her influence would promote the estimation of what 
is truly estimable, — would check the ebullitions of be- 
wildering folly, — would awe the licentious, — would disarm 
the flattering tongue of its power to poison. "When more 
fully employed in the duties of life, she would be found 
habitually engaged in the discharge of them, with com- 
posure, order, and faithfulness ; contributing, in her 
domestic and friendly connections, to prevent the purposes 
of benevolence, or of personal interest, from being turned 
from the course required by wisdom and conscience ; pro- 
moting the every day comforts of life by discretion and 
forethought ; and, prepared for those great trials and 
-emergencies, in which the fortitude of woman singularly 



152 



Sermon XI. 



rises, and in which her clear promptness of discernment 
marks out the direction of safety, whilst her intuitive sense 
of propriety gives that true dignity which arises from 
moral fitness ; and, when man would sink, she is his 
effectual support. 

I would now address a few brief directions to those 
who are in the daj^s of preparation. 

1. Attend to the health and vigour of the body. 
Health is important to enable us to discharge well the 
duties of life. The languor of indisposition is apt to 
generate the habit of contenting ourselves with the im- 
perfect discharge of duty : and, if such should be our 
case, we should consider it as one of our leading and 
constant duties to strive against it, to make it our con- 
tinual endeavour that, whatever we do, we shall do it 
heartily as unto the Lord." — When I recommend you to 
attend to the health and vigoiir of the body, I do not wish 
it to be understood that you should make it your solicitous 
desire to preserve it;— this would occasion that self-regard, 
which is inconsistent with the Christian character : but 
that it should not be risked for any purpose of selfish 
gratification ; and that you should readily follow those 
directions, which your more experienced friends believe to 
be desirable, without feeling too solicitous respecting the 
result. 

2. Cultivate the imclerstanding. Every faculty of the 
human mind should be duly cultivated ; and each may be 
made subservient to this guiding and directing power. 
The imagination is an essential part of it. When it is 
under the guidance of right reason, it exalts and elevates- 
and enlarges the mind ; and leads it to those more extended 
views of human duty, which enable the imderstanding to 



Ornaments and Influence of the Female Sex. ir»3 



see the most desirable ends, and to select the best means of 
accomplishing them. Nor wonld I wish to leave out of 
view the exercise, or the cnltivation, of the feelings. 
Without the feelings, the understanding vrould often be 
fruitless; for, without the feelings, we should be cut off 
from those close and tender s}Tiipathies, from whose 
exercise spring our social duties which, in the early periods 
of life especially, afford so valuable a culture to the un- 
derstanding : and, by the exercise of the feelings, the 
understanding itself is often -aided ; but it should not be 
guided by them. The understanding is principally culti- 
vated, and should be guided, by the judgment. In the 
important duties and decisions of active life, into which 
females are rarely called, the importance of this valuable 
faculty is obvious ; but it is not less important in the daily 
routine of domestic duties. Perhaps its exercise is more 
constantly required to discharge them aright, than in the 
more mechanical employments of the other sex : but 
whether that be the case or not, the greater strength of 
the feelings, the many trjdng duties of the sick chamber, 
and of domestic perplexity and sorrow, to which females 
are called, render the calm exercise of the judgment of 
the greatest moment to them. — But the understanding is 
trained, not only by the cultivation and exercise of the 
various powers of the mind, but by the faithful discharge 
of duty, however humble ; and particularly by the wise 
communication, and the faithful and accurate reception of 
knowledge. 

3. Cultivate the Social Affections, by exercise, and by 

See Dr. Abercrombie's excellent little work on the Cnltnre 
of the Mind. 



154 



Sermon XI. 



avoiding whatever is inconsistent with the most worthy. 
Carefully regulate and check any taste, any sentiment 
or affection, which would separate you from those domestic 
ties, which He who has placed us in families has ap- 
pointed. The strength of the social affections often gives 
a true elevation to the female character, which it would 
not otherwise possess : and often have they been its safe- 
guard ; preventing the formation of those attachments 
which would be subversive of their happiness, or enabling 
those under their influence to conquer them ; or, when 
they have been rightly placed, smoothing down the dif- 
ficulties of life, and greatly enhancing its pleasures. In 
this connection, my Young Eriends, let me urge you ever 
to remember the great importance of carefully guarding 
the affections, lest they should be placed on any object 
which duty and religion will not sanction. However much 
you may imagine that you shall find your happiness in 
such a one, you may be assured that you will only find 
bitter disaj)pointment. Happiness can only be found 
where duty points the way. 

4. Cultivate the sense of duty. Enlarge it. It is 
a broad path, when viewed by the enlightened mind. 
Enlarge it by knowledge, but seek, too, to enlarge it 
by exercising it. Exercise it in all your employments, — 
in the selection of your pleasures. Do always that which 
is right ; and every act, every employment of your time 
and tpJents, will be an act of duty, and will strengthen 
and enlarge your sense of it. Grod may and wiU be 
glorified by all, if all be done in the name," in the 
spirit, of our Lord Jesus Christ." Exercise it in the 
regulation of your thoughts and desires. Carry it with 
you into your most retired hours, and into the recesses of 



Ornaments and Infiiience oj the Female Sex, 155 



your liearts, into your social intercourse, into your family 
relations. Let your words be under its influence. Then 
the law of kindness will guide your social intercourse ; 
wliile Truth will ever be not only the language of your 
lips, but the regulator of your thoughts and actions. The 
young, particularly the female young, have many tempta- 
tions to deception and evasion, if not to direct falsehood; 
which are little felt at a more advanced age ; and of 
which the lofty bearing of man knows nothing. Here 
then, my Young Friends, is one of your greatest dangers. 
Here is, perhaps, one of the most difficult parts of that 
warfare, which we are called to exercise against the sins 
that most easily beset us. Truth is essential to upright- 
ness ; and remember that ^^He" alone ^'who walketh 
uprightly walketh surely," Let this ennobling, this 
essential virtue of the Christian character, be the object of 
your most careful, most constant, and most earnest culti- 
vation. 

5. That we may cultivate this sense of duty, let us be 
faithful and diligent in the use of the appointed means. 
Let it be your habitual practice, to read with thoughtful, 
self-applying, attention, the practical and devotional parts 
of the Scriptures ; and especially to treasure up the in- 
structions of the Lord Jesus, and to impress his character, 
upon the spirit. Law, in his Essay on Christian Per- 
fection, judiciously remarks that in reading other books, 
it may be sufficient to know what they contain ; but that, 
when we read the Gospels, our object should be, not 
merely to know and to treasure up the precepts of our 
Master, but to imbibe his spirit, that the same mind may 
be in us which was also in Christ Jesus. In proportion as 
we are able to do this, in that proportion shall we truly 



156 



Sermon XI. 



follow his example, and be transformed into Ms image; 
and be fitted for that blessed state, where we shall be like 
him, for we shall see him as he is. 

But we have other means of religious improvement; 
and let us not slight any of them. Let a part of the 
leisure of the Lord^s day, and, if possible, a part of ever}^ 
day, be spent in that reading which will enlighten the 
understanding on the subjects of Christian duty, tod aid 
in forming the Christian character. It is well to make 
extracts from such works ; and, if kept for your own 
reading alone, to subjoin the circumstances of trains of 
thought which gave them their peculiar value. In making 
such extracts, do not seek so much for that which excites 
the feelings, or captivates the imagination, as for the 
practical directions of experienced Christians. There is 
another means of training the mind to habits of serious 
thought and self-examination, which, however, I would 
recommend with caution ; this is making memoranda of 
the results of our self-examinations. This, if care be not 
taken, may be made only the means of self-deception ; 
but, if pursued with thoughtful care, and simplicity of 
intention, will be an important means of acquiring the 
most valuable of all knowledge, — the knowledge of our- 
selves. 

6. Cultivate, in a more particular manner, the senti- 
ments and the feelings of piety, and the habit of devotion. 
Piety towards God is the most ennobling sentiment of the 
mind ;— our greatest, and sometimes our only safeguard in 
the moral dangers which surround us : — our unfailing 
support in the sorrows and trials of life, — and the source 
of our greatest and purest happiness. But this plant of 
heavenly mould" needs careful cultivation. Every- 



Ornaments and Injtiteiice of the Female Sex. 157 



tiling ^'hicli sullies the purity of our souls prevents its 
formation and exercise ; and it requires to be constantly 
fostered by all those influences by wbicli the religious 
affections can be cberisbed, and particularly by habitual 
prayer, as well as by the constant influence of a devotional 
temper. Live continually as seeing Him who is invisible. 
In all your pursuits and innocent recreations, keep the end 
of all in view ; and, however beneficial the pleasures and 
advantages of life may appear, and may really be in their 
place and degree, remember that one thing is needful.'' 
And may it be said of each of you, as of Mary, that you 
have chosen that good part which shall never be taken 
away," 



SERMON XIL 

HOPE IN GOD. 



PSALM XLIL, 11. 

WHY ART THOU CAST DOWX, O MY SOUL ? AND WHY ART 
THOU DISQUIETED WITHIInT ME ? HOPE THOU m GOD ! 

Peculiar must have been the circumstances of the good 
man, who has not had occasion to resort to the tranquil 
comforts of religion, — who has not known what it is to^ 
sorrow at present distress, or to feel the emotions of solici- 
tude and apprehension at the prospect of future calamity. 
Perhaps, too, there are few whose hearts are open to its 
consoling efficacy, that have not experienced the soothing 
and peaceful influence of the words of the pious Psalmist. 
It is indeed a great happiness, when, by the early care of 
religious parents and friends, the mind has been led to 
treasure up the devotional sentiments of the Scriptures,, 
and to employ them in the periods of holy meditation and 
prayer. They thus become familiar, and often recur with 
readiness when the head is unable to pursue any long 
train of reasoning, and the heart seems incapable of 
rising from the pressure of present or expected evils ; and 
they have, in innumerable instances, been the means of 
diffusing peace and hope and consolation. 

The verse which I have selected for my text, occurs- 



Hope in God. 



159' 



(witli a little variation) twice in tlie 42nd Psalm, and again 
at the end of tlie 43rd. It has been conjectured, and not 
without considerable probability, that these two Psalms 
were once in one. At any rate they must have been 
composed by the same author, nearly at the same time, 
and in the same circumstances. There ajDj^ears little room 
to hesitate in receiving these Psalms as the compositions 
of David, during the period when he was obliged to 
Avander in the desolate and secluded parts of the country, 
in order to avoid the envious fury of Saul, or the un- 
natural conspiracy of the rebellious Absalom. Unable to 
share in the public services of religion, in which this 
servant of God manifested great delight ; a destitute 
fugitive, and often exposed to danger from the cruel 
purposes of his enemies, — it is not surprising that his 
heart sometimes sunk with him. He might perceive nO' 
termination to his calamities, and might reasonably appre- 
hend that, if he were not at last a prey to those wha 
sought his life, he should still be a wanderer, houseless, 
sole, forlorn," destitute of the comforts of a settled home,, 
continually full of alarm, deprived of the alleviations of 
friendly solicitude and sympathy, and (what he seems to^ 
have felt more than all) unable any longer to go to the- 
House of God with the voice of joy and praise ; — and in 
such circumstances, his mind must have been possessed of 
singular fortitude, or I should rather say of singular 
apathy, if it did not often experience distress, and some- 
times perhaps despondency. The waves and billows of 
affliction rolled over him ; and disquieting thoughts and 
gloomy forebodings must sometimes have intercepted the 
gentle current ever flowing from the fountain of Divine" 
mercy. 



160 



Sermon XIT. 



PIoYv^ interesting to think of tlie pious Psalmist, in 
sueli an hour of darkness, resisting the encroacliing feel- 
ings of gloom and despair, and checking their progress ; 
and, by the exercise of humble but steadfast reliance upon 
God, rising above their influence, and looking forward to 
days of light and comfort. Great indeed are my present 
afflictions, (we may conceive him to say), sorrows seem to 
dwell around me, and to hide the future in darkness and 
distress ; — but why art thou cast down, 0 my soul, and 
why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God, 
for thou shalt yet praise Him, as thy deliverer from evil, 
as well as thy God." Little did the Psalmist think, when 
he committed to writing these sentiments of devotional 
solitude, that they would communicate to thousands and 
tens of thousands in after ages, that tranquillizing influ- 
ence which he himself experienced from them. But they 
have been preserved by the hand of Providence ; and they 
are among the means by which the great Father of spirits 
directs the principles of those Vvdio sincerely and habitu- 
ally acknowledge Him. When their course lies through 
the vale of tears, as well as when they have to contend 
with moral difficulties and dangers, His word is indeed a 
lamp to their feet, and a light unto their paths. It guides 
them through the wilderness like the pillar of cloud by 
day, and the pillar of fire by night. 

"Without hope, wretched indeed would be the condition 
of man. Even when the sun of prosperity is without a 
cloud, if there were no hope for the future, the heart 
could not long receive its enlivening beams. But such is 
the nature of that -^v^onderful principle, which the Author 
of our frame has placed within us, by which He has en- 
abled us to retrace the past, and look forward to the 



HolJe in God. 



161 



future, tliat peculiar indeed must be tlie circumstances of 
him whose breast hope has deserted. Leaving out of view 
those cases where bodily distress destroys the spring 
and activity of the mind, hope can only be expelled by 
sensuality, by irreligion, or by those gloomy notions of 
Him who is love, which involve His character and ways in 
more than Egyptian darkness, — darkness that may be 
felt, and often has been felt, to the utter exclusion of light 
and peace. 

Hope, by its own natural buoyancy, often raises 
the minds even of those who live without God in the 
world, above the influence of present disappointments and 
anxieties. But my immediate object is Hope in God. Ee- 
ligious principle gives a stability and value to hope, which, 
without it, hope can never possess. It may sometimes 
sober down its gay pageantry ; but it presents it with a 
firmer basis upon which it may rest with solid satisfaction. 
[Religion not only encourages us, but it bids us to hope ; 
and it tells us to place our hope on Him who never forsook 
the heart sincerely devoted to His fear. It tells us to 
place our hope on Him who hath been a refuge to the 
good through all generations. It bids us rest on the Eoek 
of ages. 

And can this be otherwise than a firm basis for con- 
fiding hope ? — for hope full of consolation ? Not indeed 
for the ecstacies of Enthusiasm, (who fancies that she sees 
the all-wise Disposer of all events continually interfering 
to supply her wants, and to remove her distresses, by 
means which would be utterly inconsistent with the grand 
moral order of His providence,) — not indeed for the 
ecstacies of enthusiasm, but for what is far better, — for 
the cheering elevating conviction, that all is under the 



162 



Sermon XII. 



wisest and the best direction, and that a period will come 
when those who attain the great end of their faith and 
hope, will fully see with admiring gratitude (what now 
they see in part) that the steps of the good man are in- 
deed ordered by the Lord, and that He conducteth him by 
the right way to His heavenly kingdom. That the Pro- 
vidence of Grod is absolutely universal, and comprehends 
all times, all places, and all events ; — that all His purposes 
are prompted by infinite goodness ; — that they are all 
guided by infinite wisdom ; — and that He who ruleth over 
all has almighty power to accomplish all His wise and 
gracious designs ; — these are the solid foundations, on 
which the religious mind may rest its hope with gratitude 
and confidence. And those who spake by the express 
authority of Grod have left us no room to doubt. They 
assure us that of Him and by Him, and unto Him are 
all things they teach us that nothing is without Him; 
— that not even a sparrow f alleth to the ground without 
our Heavenly Father ; — that He not only ruleth among 
the nations, but so orders the events of life, that all things 
work together for good to those who love Him. The 
doctrine of a universal Providence includes the Scriptural 
doctrine of a particular Providence ; and, though it gives 
the good man no ground to expect any miraculous inter- 
positions of Divine power, to heal his diseases, to supply 
his wants, to avert his dangers, to remove the load which 
presses heavily upon his spirits, to dissipate the threaten- 
ing storm, — yet it does afford solid ground for the con- 
viction, that even his afflictions may promote his highest 
interests, — that it is a part of the established order of 
God's moral government, that it shall be well with those 
who fear Him, — and that, to those who seek His favour 



Hope in God, 



163 



by obedience to His will, wbo maintain habitual com- 
munion with Him, and wbo suitably apply to tbe Tbrone 
of Grace, those supplies of guidance, of strength, and of 
comfort, will be given, (in ways perhaps which we can 
scarcely understand, but which are real and effectual,) 
which enable the Christian traveller to pursue his journey 
heavenward, with general tranquillity, with comfort and 
with peace. 

Where religious principle fully operates, and is aided 
in its influence by health of body and natural composure 
of mind, the disquieting and depressing emotions of the 
heart less highly favoured are perhaps but little known. 
Yet it is very seldom that a long period passes to any, 
without some interval of darkness ; and then is the time 
to call into exercise those encouraging and animating 
principles, which it is alike our duty and our privilege to 
cherish and employ. — ^^Why art thou cast down, 0 my 
soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? " Does thy 
dejection spring from the consciousness of great imper- 
fection in thy religious character, of wrong habits not yet 
subdued, of wrong dispositions too often exercised, of 
talents wasted, time mis-spent ? " — dost thou feel appre- 
hensive lest thou shouldst fail of reaching the promised 
inheritance ? — dost thou lament thy limited usefulness, 
thy inability to accomplish the purposes which thy bene- 
volence prompts thee to form ? — dost thou mourn for good 
resolutions often formed, but which have vanished like the 
morning cloud or the early dew ? — dost thou reflect with 
distress on negligence in the work assigned thee ; or im- 
patience under the afflictions with which thy Father has 
visited thee, on the little progress which thou hast made in 



164 



Sermon XII, 



the subjecting thy desires and dispositions to the law of 
Grod ? — dost thou fear lest thy fortitude should be unable 
to resist the temptations and the difficulties which surround 
thee, or lest thy principles should prove too weak to with- 
stand the constant influence of present interests and cares 
and pleasures, which tend to check or stop thee on thy 
progress heavenward ? Certainly thou hast room for 
caution, but not for despair. Blessed are they who 
mourn, with godly sorrow, for they shall be comforted. 
Do not forget that thou art in the hands of a wise and 
gracious Parent, who knoweth our frame, who remem- 
l)ereth that we are but dust ; that as a father pitieth his 
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. — Our 
unallowed defects and imperfections should indeed render 
us watchful and humble ; but they should not exclude the 
cheering rays of Divine mercy. The promises of the 
Gospel, while they afford no hope to the impenitent and 
disobedient, do give the best consolation to the weary and 
heavy-laden. We cannot doubt the mercy of Grod ; for it 
rests on His own gracious declaration. His sacrifices are 
a broken spirit ; and most assuredly a broken and a eon- 
trite heart, He will not despise. Despair ? — The Christian 
despair, who possesses the Covenant of love and mercy 
made through Jesus Christ? — It should not be. Go 
Christian, who mournest for thy spiritual disorders ; and, 
in the hour of holy retirement, lay open thy heart, with 
all its wants and weaknesses, before Him who can read 
the language of the silent tear, who needs not the aid of 
words to understand thy silent aspirations after obedience 
to His will, after the spirit of him who hath trodden 
before us in the path of holy obedience. He who in ways,. 



Hope in God, 



165 



wliicli perhaps we cannot fully uiiderstand, communicates 
His gracious aid to those who humbly and steadily seek 
His favour, will answer thy habitual supplications with 
strength in temptation, and with guidanco in moral per- 
plexities, such as they cannot know, who, through high 
ideas of their own firmness and strength of principle, 
restrain prayer before God, and neglect the Eock of tlieir 
salvation. Why, then, art thou cast down, 0 my soul, 
and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in 
God, the God of grace and of all consolation, the Almighty 
Guardian of those who love and fear Him, the gracious 
Being who wiD. make it well with them here and well with 
them for ever. Seek His favour and His gracious succour, 
with full purpose of heart. Sink not under difficulties ; 
but lean on His powerful arm. Be sober and watch unto 
prayer ; and then thy end will be full of peace and hope. 
Or if, through some unhappy habits of mind, thou canst 
not rise from the valley of humiliation, and darkness 
accompany thee unto the end, a day will come which shall 
be without a cloud to interrupt the light of Gospel mercy. 
Certainly it is not the Christian's duty to dwell in despond- 
ing sorrow ; and there must be some wrong principle s 
within, which cause and continue it. But even such 
sorrow is better than the wild and destructive mirth of 
riot and excess ; and ^ ' blessed is the man that f eareth 
always." ^^He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
bearing his sheaves with him." 

But do your disquietude and despondency arise from 
feelings of distrust in the goodness of God? The mo- 
mentary feeling may exist, without leaving a moral stain 



166 



Sermon XII. 



beMnd it ; but assuredly it cannot liabitually exist, witb- 
out great culpability. Instances, I believe, have been 
known, (I think I have myself known one), where the fear 
of God ruled in tbe beart, where the individual would on 
no account have done any thing inconsistent with the 
Divine commandments, where nevertheless (from excess of 
sensibility to the sufferings of others, and early incorrect 
ideas as to the Divine dispensations, and the influence 
of bodily weakness disposing the mind to dwell upon what 
was painful instead of what was cheering,) there have 
been too frequently, nay almost habitually, in the mind, 
disquieting distressing apprehensions as to the goodness 
of Him who is love, which have thrown a gloom over His 
works, and over His dealings with mankind. He who 
alone knoweth all the silent movements of the heart, and 
sees when frailty errs and when we sin," can appreciate 
the moral culpability of such distrust ; and doubtless He 
wiU make all reasonable allowances for human ignorance 
and imperfection. But certainly we ought never to permit 
ourselves to cherish those views which lead to it, or 
harbour it when it does for a moment enter the mind. 
Distrust as to the goodness of Grod is indeed enough to 
make the heart gloomy, and to cause disquietude and des- 
pondency. Certainly we do see what we cannot here 
account for. "We see suffering; and, what is a still 
greater difiiculty, we see moral evil : and how all this is 
consistent with the Infinite goodness of Grod, we do not 
comprehend, — perhaps we cannot comprehend. One end 
we do hnow ; that suffering and evil are inseparably con- 
nected with this life, considered as a state of probation 
and that one grand purpose of them is accomplished, wheat 



Hope in God, 



167 



they lead man to seek to promote tlie welfare and spiritual 
improvement of liis fellow-man, to desire and endeavour 
to promote tliem at the expense of his own gratifications 
of ease and interest, to cultivate trust and confiding sub- 
mission to the disposals of Infinite wisdom, to raise his 
afitections towards that state where we shall see face to 
face, and know even as we are known. But he who is 
favoured with the light of Eevelation, who there sees that 
God is acquainted with the minutest event, and takes care 
of the meanest of His creatures, he who has thereby 
learnt to read the book of Nature, and see there inscribed 
in characters which he who runs may read, that the Lord 
is good unto all, and that His tender mercies are over all 
His works, — he has no ground which the understanding 
can approve, to doubt or to distrust the goodness which 
prompts Infinite power and wisdom. But, why art thou 
cast down, 0 my soul, and why art thou disquieted within 
me ? — may he say, when he contemplates the disorders 
which, within his own narrow sphere of personal obser- 
vation, and in the wider circle of states and nations, arise 
from the operation of the laws of nature, or still more 
from the evil passions of men. Hope thou in God. He is 
good ; for millions of beings, and millions of millions, 
bej^ond the power of the human understanding to reckon 
up, even in this world, have been called into existence by 
His gracious power, have received from Infinite wisdom an 
exquisite structure suited to their several wants and capa- 
cities of enjoyment, and all are continually under the care 
of His bounty, continually supported by His hand. And 
this world is only a speck of His creation. There are in 
the boundless fields of space, worlds beyond worlds, and 



168 



Sermon XII. 



systems beyond systems, all the work of His hand, sup- 
ported by His constant agency, preserved in order and 
harmony by His wise superintendence, and all of them 
(we cannot doubt it) the residence of beings capable, like 
those which inhabit this earth, of happiness, and receiving 
it in their due measures and degrees from the Hand that 
sustains all, from the never-failing stores of that boundless 
Love which is diffused in copious streams throughout the 
whole creation. And if the heart, thoughtfully contem- 
plating the wonders of nature, and the rich displays which 
are there afforded of the goodness of the great Creator, 
the constant Supporter and Preserver of all, still cannot 
rise above the influence of the present calamity and evil, 
let it extend its view to that state which Christianity dis- 
closes to the eye of faith, to that life and immortality 
which Jesus hath brought to light through the Gospel. 
Let the pious Christian, disquieted at the marks of sin 
and sorrow, here look forward to those great things which 
are reserved for those who truly love God. Let him re- 
member, that there is another and a better world ; a world 
where sin and sorrow shall be known no more for evei*, 
where every tear shall be wiped from every eye, and where 
all shall be advancing in holiness and happiness through 
the countless ages of eternity. Let him indulge the as- 
sured expectation, that all which here is known but in 
part, will there be fully known ; that the time will come 
when all enemies shall be subdued ; and when God shall 
be all in all. 

And to the same prospects let us resort, when our 
hearts sink within us under the pressure of present 
calamity, or in the apprehension of future evils. Still 



Hope in God. 



169 



^ ^ Avhy art thou cast down, 0 my soul, and why art thou 
disquieted within me?'' Still, hope in God. — Afliction 
thou shouldst regard as the chastisement of a wise Parent, 
fitted to improve thy best dispositions, to purify thy 
desires, and to promote thy progress in those qualities of 
heart and life, which will render thee a fit object of the 
Divine mercy and acceptance. Certainly no afflictions can 
for the present be otherwise than grievous. Yet every one 
must proceed from the hand of God ; and we may indulge 
the fullest confidence, that our afflictions will last no 
longer, nor be more severe, than is necessary to accomplish 
the purposes of a Father's love. Eeligion teaches us to 
entertain the firm conviction, that those whose hearts are, 
in the midst of much weakness and imperfection, really 
devoted to the fear and love of God, are the objects of His 
special favour and regard. And if we have a comfortable 
hope that we are in that blessed number, we may rely 
with the fullest confidence on the assurances of the Volume 
of grace, that all things will work together for our good. 

But perhaps the heart of those, who not only know 
present difficulties and distresses, but whom circumstances 
peculiar to themselves, or such as are common to these 
times of perhaps unexampled distress (1815) force to view 
the future with apprehension, may be disposed to reply, — 
In affliction, merely respecting ourselves, or such as can 
be alleviated, we can entertain and cherish trust and 
resignation; but hope is difficult when there is no apparent 
ground for hope ; — when darkness and solicitude, general 
and deeply felt, are round about us, and no hiiman eye 
can discern the means of deliverence from the apprehended 
calamity." I admit, I feel the appeal ; yet still into the 



170 



Sermon XIT. 



religious heart, I trust the words of the Psalmist will 
introduce some rays of comfort. The promises of Grod to 
those who truly seek his favour with full purpose of heart, 
are not few ; and the experience of the pious mind in all 
ages, proves that they are yea and amen." Cast thy 
burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." Look 
back upon the days that are past. Have you never found 
that gloom, thickening gloom, as it appeared, has been 
dissipated ? Have you never perceived the way of Pro- 
vidence become clear and bright, when before it was 
covered, to your imagination, with mist and darkness ? 
In the course of Nature, do days of darkness continue for 
ever ? Does not the sunshine follow the storm? And is it 
not alike the case in the moral Providence of God? Wait 
then patiently upon the Lord. Seek with humble perse- 
verance, for the peace of those whose mind is stayed upon 
God : and trust that, in His own good time, the darkness 
which now hangs over thy lot, and the lot of myriads 
of thy countrymen, will be dispersed. Who is there 
among you that feareth the Lord? — that walketh in dark- 
ness, and hath no light ? Let him trust in the name 
of the Lord, and stay upon his God. If the present 
sources of industry are dried up, if those who would 
gladly rise up early and sit up late, only to gain the bread 
of sorrow, have now the painful feeling that their hands 
cannot obtain the necessaries of life, for themselves and 
for those who depend upon them, — let them not add to 
their solicitude the distresses of distrust and despair. 
SuflB.cient for the day is the evil thereof. Let them watch 
the openings of Providence with humble faith in Him who 
doeth all things well. Let them employ all prudent means 



Hope in God. 



to obtain relief for their distresses. Above all, lot no dis- 
trust, no anxiety, lead tliem to break tbe commandments 
of God, or seek for succour by means which, they cannot 
beg of God to prosper. And in the moments of des- 
pondency, let this be the language of their hearts, "Why 
art thou cast down 0 my soul, and why art thou disquieted 
within me ? Hope thou in God." 

Here I will conclude, in the language of the Apostle, 
Be careful (anxiously careful) for nothing; but in every 
thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let 
your requests be made known unto God ; and may the 
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your 
hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus." Amen. 



^^^^ 



SERMON XIIL 



THE CLOUD NOT BIGGEE THAN A MAN'S HAND. 



1 KINGS, XVIII., 44. 

AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE SEVENTH TIME, THAT HE 
SAID, BEHOLD THERE ABISETH A LITTLE CLOUD OUT OF 
THE SEA LIKE A MAn's HAND. AND HE SAID GO UP, 
SAY UNTO AHAB, PREPARE THY CHARIOT, AND GET THEE 
DOWN, THAT THE RAIN STOP THEE NOT. 

There are few portions of the history of the servants of 
the Lord among the children of Israel, more full of 
animating encouragement to trust in God, and to the 
exercise of that moral courage which a sense of duty in- 
spires, than this of Elijah. Ahab, son of Omri, exceeded 
in wickedness all that had preceded him on the throne 
of Israel ; and, as if it had been a light matter to walk in 
the sinful steps of Jeroboam, who led Israel into idolatry, 
he married Jezebel the daughter of the King of Sidon, 
and went and served Baal, and built an altar in a temple 
to that Idol, and prepared a grove for its abominable rites. 
The prophet of Jehovah, in the name of the great Being 
whom he faithfully served, declared to the idolatrous King 
of Israel, that for three years there should be no dew nor 
rain in the land, but according to his word. It was by 
the word of Him who hath all the powers of nature under 



The cloud not ligger than a man's hand, 173 



His control, that tlie prophet spake. The dew and the 
rain came not to the thirsty land ; and among the in- 
habitants of it there must have been sore distress ; though, 
probably in the palace of the King there were the usual 
scenes of luxury and self-indulgence. The heart of man 
is hardened by sinful pleasure, and by worshipping the 
idols of the world. The prophet himself was supported 
by the miraculous sustenance granted to the widow of 
Sarepta ; who in her own extremity, had faith in God, 
and supplied the wants of the servant whom He had sent 
to her abode. In the providence of God, self-denying 
exertions, and sacrifices for the welfare of others, rarely 
fail to experience (though perhaps at a distant period) 
some unlooked-for requital, — impressively rewarding, 
when the exertion, or the sacrifice, had simply in view the 
dictates of duty and of love. 

The third year came to the suffering people, and the 
appointed time arrived for the manifestation of Jehovah's 
mercy. The prophet was sent to show himself unto Ahab, 
preparatory to the renewal of rain from heaven. Doubt- 
less in every part of his subsequent course, he was 
specially directed by God ; but his faith and courage were 
put to a severe trial. We know the result ; but to Elijah 
all was future. The miraculous suspension of rain after 
his prediction, the miracles he had himself witnessed 
and shared, precluded the possibility of his being mistaken 
as to the source of his mission ; the principle of obedience 
was in his heart ; and the will of J ehovah, however it 
was made known to him, was sure to be his guide. The 
composure and steadfastness with which he followed that 
guidance, with the circumstances attending the sacri- 
fice on Mount Carmel, excite emotions of moral sublimity, 



174 



Sermon XIII. 



wMcLl are comparable in intensity and interest with, the 
hour when Abraham offered^ though he did not sacrifice^ his 
son to the Great Being who gave him as the heir of 
promise, — or that when the fiery furnace awaited the 
three servants who would not bow to the golden image, — 
or that when the blessed prophet prayed, with open 
window, and his face turned towards Jerusalem, as afore- 
time, though the den of lions was prepared for him that 
disobeyed the rash decree of the Persian monarch. 

If you ask, whence sprang the elevating, confiding, 
conviction so vividly manifested by these servants of the 
Lord, the answer is plain ; it was from faith in God, 
written in their hearts as it may be written in ours, 
operating habitually as a principle of conduct, leading 
to obedience in danger and in difficulty, to trust in dark- 
ness, to follow the Divine goodness when it was leading 
they knew not whither, to make duty their paramount 
consideration; it was that principle which he manifested 
in its most complete and perfect form, who is preeminently 
the Christian pattern and guide, who could say '^My meat 
is to do the will of my Father, and to finish His work," 
I seek not mine own glory but the glory of Him that 
sent me." — who overcame the world and all its terrors, — 
and who said, in the hour of sore anguish and agony of 
spirit, when without all was darkness, and no streak of 
light appeared in the distant horizon, Father, not my 
will but Thine be done." 

In the case of the holy Prophet of Israel, we see de- 
veloped the secret spring of his conduct, in the scenes of 
that memorable day when the Priests of Baal in fuU array 
were assembled on the summit of Carmel, where there was 
no covering but the vault of heaven, no cloud to interrupt 



The cloud not higger than a man's hand, 175 



the intense rays of tliat glorious creature whom they wor- 
shipped instead of his Creator, no hidden resources (as in 
the temple or the grove) for the exercise of mysteries and 
imposture. The vast plain of Israel once filled with 
fertihty, now barren with the drought, was in full view on 
the East; and on the West was the majestic Ocean. What 
was more fitted to raise the soul in humble adoring rever- 
ence to Jehovah, the Almighty maker of heaven and 
of earth ? And there, as on Mount Sinai, He manifested 
His presence and His will ; formerly to give laws to His 
-chosen people ; and now to recall them to their allegiance. 
The Priests of Baal uttered their wild invocations from 
morning unto noon, and cut themselves after their manner 
with knives and lancets ; and they continued their cries 
and their self-infiictions till the time of the oifering of the 
evening sacrifice. But there was neither voice, nor any 
to answer, nor any that regarded. And then arrived the 
period for the solemn appeal to Jehovah. The Prophet 
with calm dignity, and with deliberate course, (pursued in 
the sight of assembled Israel), had, in the way of pre- 
paration, taken twelve stones as the symbols of the twelve 
tribes of Israel, and renewed the altar of Jehovah, and 
dug a trench around it, and put in order the wood for the 
burnt offering, and placed the bullock in pieces upon it, 
and the second, and again the third time commanded 
to pour abundance of water over the wood and the sacri- 
fice till even the trench was filled with water. All was 
now ready, and doubtless every eye was fixed, and every 
leart filled with anxious suspense; but there was one 
heart in which there was no anxiety, which was then filled 
with earnest faith and solemn expectation. ^^And it came 
to pass (saith the sacred record) at the time of the offering 



170 



Sermon XIII. 



of the evening sacrifice, that Elijali the prophet came 
near, and said, ^Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of 
Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in 
Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done 
all these things at Thy word.' 

You know the issue. The fire of Jehovah fell, and 
consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones 
and the dust, and dried up the water in the trench. What 
unbelief could resist the appeal ? The people, when they 
saw it, fell on their faces, and uttered their conviction that 
Jehovah is God and He alone. The Prophet then foretold 
to Ahab the approach of abundant rain ; but as yet there 
was no sign of it in the heavens. He then returned to 
the Promontory of Mount Carmel, and in earnest (and 
now perhaps anxious) expectation he seated himself on 
the ground, with his face between his knees, awaiting the 
fulfilment of the word which he had spoken by the order 
of the Lord. He goes not himself to look for the signs 
of its approach ; but sends his servant to the point of 
observation ; and the answer is, there is nothing." 

Elijah (saith the Apostle of Christ) was a man subject 
to like passions with ourselves ; and how true to nature 
the picture of the historian is, let those say, who have 
seen some great event on the eve of its accomplishment, 
on which depends the welfare of millions, and the fulfil- 
ment of hopes on which the heart had dwelt for j^ears, 
and to which all the energies of the soul had been 
directed,— who have watched the signs of the times, and, 
as they believed, saw the appointed moment at hand, — 
who have awaited in breathless suspense the looked-for 
intelligence for good or for ill, but who dare not go them- 
selves to learn the issue, and awaited in silence and soli- 



The cloud not higger than a man's hand, 177 



tude the arrival of some less earnest messenger, dispatclied 
to know what had come to pass. 

God tries his servants in different ways. At the end 
of the dispensation of the Law and the Prophets, there 
was a period of darkness over the whole land for three 
hours ; when human hope seemed fled for ever, — and it 
rested only in his heart, who saw in the gloom itself the 
proofs of his Heavenly Father's love and approbation, the 
proof that those great purposes for which he was suffering 
all that the mortal frame can suff'er, and was just about to 
enter the abode of death, would be accomplished by His 
mighty power, and he himself be made the author of 
eternal salvation, and become the Redeemer of the world. 
Sere was a period when all was excess of brightness, 
when the servant of Jehovah earnestly desired that the 
thick clouds should spread over the firmament, and pour 
forth torrents to renew the verdure of the earth, and pro- 
vide food for man and for beast, and lead the whole land 
of Israel to acknowledge His power, and adore His justice 
and His mercy. The servant of Elijah returned again 
and again at his master's command, till the seventh time. 

And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, 
^ Behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a 
man's hand.' " Suspense is at an end. The Prophet's 
heart is filled with solemn, earnest, joyful emotion. He 
sends the message to Ahab, announcing the fulfilment of 
the heavenly promise ; and before it reached the King of 
Israel, the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and 
^' there was a great rain." 

There are those whom neither the judgments nor the' 
mercies of God can affect. The idolatrous Jezebel thought 
only of vengeance for the destruction of the priests of 



178 



Sermon XIII. 



her deity ; and she sought to slay the prophet of Jehovah. 
Too probably, also, many — even those who witnessed the 
wonders on Mount Carmel — again bowed the knee unto 
Baal. Our own experience, perhaps, though in a less 
fearful way, may teach us the nature of their backsliding. 
They owned Jehovah as their Grod ; they uttered His 
praise ; but they soon forgot His works. Nevertheless, 
when the poor prophet, in the solitudes of Horeb, whither 
he had fled for refuge (after the hour of despondency which 
followed the period of intense and elevated exertion and 
holy faith), seemed to himself alone in the worlds the word 
of the Lord declared, ^^I have left me seven thousand in 
Israel, which have not bowed the knee unto Baal, or 
adored him with the lips." 

The history which we have been considering is so 
full of impressive instruction and dutiful influence, and 
so calculated to cherish a trustful faith in the Almighty, 
in His providence, and in the purposes of His dis- 
pensation, that (without further observation made now 
or hereafter,) I should feel that our time had been well 
spent, in proportion as the attention, the considerate re- 
flective attention, of my hearers, has been directed to it. 
Have faith in Gtod, and do youe, duty, is the lesson to 
all ; we all must feel the influence of the Prophet's forti- 
tude, and steadfastness, and perseverance, founded on the 
convictions of duty, and on the deep-seated and habitual 
regard to Grod, which his life displays, and which are 
manifested in the trying circumstances which have come 
before us. And those who have had much experience in 
life, and observed the great revolutions and changes in the 
world around them, can scarcely avoid also reflections, full 
of deep and grateful interest, at the events which have 



The cloud not higger than a man's hand. 179 



been passing in this generation, and wMcli have, (in 
various ways, and often when all was clouds and dark- 
ness,) been so contributing to the great purposes of human 
welfare and improvement, that even he that despaired for 
liis race, when forty years ago he contemplated the devas- 
tation of the moral volcano, or subsequently the gigantic 
power of ambition carrying along with it the sword and 
the flames, can have now no reason to doubt (however 
much he may still see of evil) that the reign of knowledge 
and liberty and peace and righteousness is advancing, that 
the dominion of Christ is extending, and that there is 
nothing in the nature or circumstances of man, which 
should prevent the fulfilment of that heart-inspiring de- 
claration. The knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the 
earth as the waters do the channels of the deep," — nothing 
to prevent the final, however distant, accomplishment of 
the prayer, which the faithful dutiful heart never breathed 
in vain, Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in 
heaven." 

My people do not consider," was the word of the 
Lord by Isaiah ; and, hurried along as we have been by 
the stream of events, it may be that some of us can fully 
enter into the force of an expression which came lately 
from the pen of a distinguished labourer in one important 
field of benevolent service, — when we have leisure for it, I 
hope we shall be very thankful." The time of compara- 
tive leisure is come, when it is well to review our mercies, 
and consider our duties. The cloud not bigger than a 
man's hand, for which many of us watched more than 
seven times in vain, has showed itself, and is expanding ; 
full, as we may reasonably believe, of blessings to the 
human race. It may indeed pour forth its torrents, as 
well as its genial showers. It may still burst in thunders, 



180 



Sermon XIII. 



as weU as in caka refresMng influences. But, after all 
we have seen with our own eyes (or heard, the younger 
among us, from our fathers) of the dealing of Providence, 
and of the way in which evil tends to good, and of the 
indications of the truth that evil has its tendency to exter- 
mination, and shall extend no further and last no longer 
than is needed, in the unsearchable counsels of infinite 
Wisdom and almighty Power, to accomplish the purposes 
of boundless Goodness, — who is there that, when contem- 
plating the world with the eye which has been directed 
upwards to the Throne of grace, and onwards towards 
eternity, can hesitate to believe that of Him and through 
Him and to Him are all things, and to join in the song of 
heaven. Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. 
Blessed are those who in the world around, and in the 
world within, employ their talents and opportunities to 
carry on the great purposes of Divine love, — to make 
others, and to be themselves, as the children of God, the 
servants of Christ, the brethren of one family here, and 
expectants of one heavenly home. 

My thou-ghts have been particularly led to the subject 
to which I have endeavoured to direct yours, by the recent 
death of one whose name was, from childhood to early 
manhood, familiar to one's lips, and whom I have always 
revered as a benefactor to mankind under the highest and 
noblest influences, — I mean Mr. Wilberforce. I had the 
opportunity, which I embraced with earnestness, of uniting 
in the solemn respect paid to his memory at his funeral ; 
and looking back at the period when his services for 
human welfare began, and at the still more remote period, 
when the cloud was not bigger than a man's hand and 
scarcely discernable, when that individual^ began to labour 
* Thomas Clarkson. 



The cloud 7iot liggev than a man's hand. 181 



with, self-devotement, and witli an earnest perseverance 
which nothing but a sense of duty could have inspired, 
who stiU lives to observe the results, while the distinguished 
advocate of the same cause in the British Senate has 
had his dismissal, at the time that the great purpose of his 
life was clearly on the verge of accomplishment, — and 
perceiving, in rapid retrospect, how the great work of 
wisdom and justice and benevolence has been advancing, 
often like the unnoticed swelling of the water in the re- 
tired cavern, till at last it has been put in train for full 
operation, on principles in which (as I know) equity to all, 
and the welfare of those for whom we were bound to make 
exertions and sacrifices, have been united beyond all 
previous hope and expectation, — I feel that the claims 
of gratitude for this and other national mercies are very 
strong ; — and I wish to lead your heart and hope, through 
the contemplation of them, to increased faith and trust in 
the Almighty Father of all, and to increased zeal and 
perseverance in every good work, — in an increased degree 
to the patience of hope and the labour of love. 



SERMON XIV. 



THE CHEISTIAN'S PEACE. 



JOHN Xiy., 27. 

PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOTJ; MY PEACE I GIVE IJNTO YOU; 
XOT AS THE WORLD GIYETH, GIVE I TOTO YOU. 

These words form a part of that deeply interesting dis- 
course, which, our Lord addressed to the eleven disciples, 
just before he retired to the spot where he was to be 
delivered up to the malice of his enemies ; and they must 
for the time have produced in their minds that soothing 
tranquillity, with which the perusal of them is usually 
attended, when the heart has been in some good measure 
brought into subjection to the principles of the Gospel. 

They have an obvious and direct reference to the com- 
mon form of salutation among the easterns, — Peace be 
unto you : " and, explained by this allusion alone, they 
are affecting. You have my best desires for your wel- 
fare. The world around you often expressed the same 
wishes, but too often insincerely, or at least thoughtlessly. 
Mine arise from the most affectionate concern for you." 
But I cannot persuade myself that this is all which is 
implied in the words of my text. They appear to me 
to have a much stronger and more important force. Con- 



The Christianas peace. 



183 



sidering our Lord, not merely in tlie light of a common 
friend, but also as one who came to communicate to man- 
kind tlie glad tidings of Salvation ; — considering the 
situation in which he stood, not merely as about to be 
separated from those who had personally known him, and 
whom he loved with no ordinary affection, but also as 
about to seal by his blood the covenant of grace and 
mercy, — I apprehend that these expressions may be thus 
understood, I leave you, but I leave you not destitute. 
Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you. I 
give you the means of securing that peace which arises 
from an interest in the blessings I come to bring to man- 
kind. The world promises happiness ; but the sources 
which it presents to you are unproductive and insecure. I 
give, not as the world giveth ; I present to you that whose 
value the world cannot understand, which the world can- 
not bestow, and of which the world cannot deprive you ; 
that peace which I feel ; and of which you will partake, 
by following me in the paths of obedience to the will of 
my Father.'' 

In the most important sense, godliness hath the promise 
of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. 
Taking life throughout all its changes, (and how changeful 
it is, experience is daily teaching us,) there cannot be a 
doubt that the man who submits his conduct and dis- 
positions to the rules of religion, will possess the greatest 
share of happiness even in this life. As a general rule it 
may be most correctly asserted, that he will obtain the 
fullest share of enjoyment which wisdom, if guided by no 
prospect of an hereafter, would point as the most rational 
object of pursuit. But if we advance further, and view 



184 



Sermon XIV. 



the present, state, as the Gospel teaches us to view it, as 
only the infancy of our being, and see religion blending, 
with present sources of joy and sorrow, its own hopes and 
fears, — the most sceptical must be forced to allow, that its 
ways are alone the ways of pleasantness, that its paths 
are peace. It must indeed be admitted, that the com- 
pletely irreligious man draws more pleasure from the 
practice of sin, than he can do who has ever had an 
operating conviction of the omnipresence of God, and of 
the certainty of a day of righteous retribution. But for 
that pleasure he gives up satisfactions, which would them- 
selves abundantly compensate for the loss of any present 
gratifications ; he gives up too his hopes of happiness, 
compared with which all joys that have no title to the 
heart are trivial in the extreme. 

The present happiness which usually arises from that 
due regulation of the heart and life which the Gospel 
enjoins, is well denominated peace. There generally are, 
indeed, periods in the Christian's life, which may in the 
strictest sense be termed joyful, — such as set at nought 
every thing which the world calls pleasure, such as furnish 
a foretaste of that happiness which is laid up for those 
who love God. But it does not appear that the acqui- 
sition of present happiness, even of the purest and most 
valuable kind, is the object of this life ; — it is rather the 
acquirement of those habits and dispositions, which will 
qualify us to be made partakers of eternal bliss in another 
and a better world. If it were possible that he who 
has made it his first and chief concern to serve and please 
God, could lose the hope set before him in the Gospel, 
there is no doubt that he would still consider his choice as 



The Christian's peace. 



185 



a wise one, — that lie would consider liimself as having 
gained, on the whole, more happiness than he who made 
mere worldly objects his primary aim. Still it must be 
admitted that Christian duty has its trials ; and that few 
comparatively of those who do sincerely endeavour to lead 
a religious life, would, without the hopes of the Gospel, 
have acquired that command over their own hearts, which 
would make those sacrifices in all cases easy, which would 
in all cases make the road of duty the object of their 
cheerful choice. The world around presents many objects 
which promise happiness ; and though that promise is 
often vain, and never fully realized, yet it requires no 
small degree of firmness to make them relinquished with- 
out one lingering longing look.'' Present objects, from 
the very constitution of the human frame, must powerfully 
affect the mind ; and it is not till the disciple of Jesus 
has, in some good degree, acquired that comprehensive- 
ness of soul, which enables him to keep the eye of faith 
steadily fixed on things unseen,— that those pleasures and 
pursuits which have this world as their principal, if not 
their sole object, cease to attract his desires, cease to 
obscure that solid happiness, which he might so success- 
fully look for from the complete devotement of his heart 
to God. 

There is an obvious reason why the happy conse- 
quences of Christian obedience should only be partially, 
and not certainly attainable in this life. If enough were 
here to be acquired to satisfy the mind completely, its 
attention would be much driven off from that futurity 
which the Gospel discloses ; and that purity and strength 
of virtue, which are so often produced by looking beyond 



186 



Sermon XIV. 



tlie world and every thing wliicli it affords, would scarcely 
have been reached, — certainly not in the degree in which 
they so often present themselves to our delightful contem- 
plation, — which so much contribute to strengthen the 
conviction, that all the parts of this great system have 
been arranged by consummate "Wisdom and Goodness. 

Still there is enough of present happiness to be derived 
from faithful endeavours to discharge our duty as Chris- 
tians, to satisfy us that we are serving the best Master ; 
and, taken in connection with the prospects of the Gospel, 
to convince one whose understanding is not completely 
obscured by vicious indulgencies, that the way of duty is 
wisdom's way. But the present happiness of a virtuous 
course does not consist in ecstacies and transports ; but is, 
in general, a steady, calm, tranquil, heartfelt satisfaction, 
which cannot be fully understood, except by those who 
have felt it. Perhaps the sons of gaiety and pleasure 
might not regard it as bearing any comparison with the 
enjoyments which excite their eager desire and ardent 
pursuit ; because it has no quality in common with them ; 
and has even few of those qualities which make those 
enjoyments for the time so pleasurable. But he who has 
experienced it will say that their estimate is fallacious ; 
that it is founded in ignorance, — perhaps on a present 
incapacity to relish those delightful feelings, which spring 
from the exercise of the noblest affections, and which, 
when they have lost their vividness by becoming habitual, 
constitute a source of the purest peace, — peace that sur- 
passes in its value even those joys which the Christian can 
feel in this imperfect state. It is a peace which passeth 
understanding. He who hath not at some period of his 



The Christian's peace. 



187 



life experienced it, knows not his loss. And lie wlio has 
once possessed it, cannot but regard it as his best portion 
here. If he desert it, to seek any of the pleasui-es or 
honoiu^s which this world can afford, I have no hesitation 
in asserting that he has found nothing which he feels can 
be placed in comjpetition with it, — nothing which, were he 
free from the slavery of selfish inclinations, he would not 
gladly give up for it, though that should be what makes 
the world around look upon him as an object of envy. 

The sources of the Christian's peace are obvious. God 
hath so constituted the human mind, that the faithful dis- 
charge of duty is seldom unaccompanied with inward 
satisfaction. It is that present reward, with which virtue 
is usually attended, even without any explicit reference to 
a future life. It is not perhaps so great in the minds of 
those who have full and extensive ideas of Christian re- 
quisitions ; and who habitually look beyond the present 
scene for the consummation of the Christian's happiness. 
But it is in all cases a freedom from those painful emotions, 
which the conscience so often produces, where its com- 
mands are not obeyed. But there is something beyond 
and above this. There is a consciousness of the Divine 
approbation, and a hope of a blessed immortality, which, 
where they can be indulged with the sanction of the 
Gospel declarations, afford a peaceful tranquil delight, 
beyond what language can describe. It is true that the 
views which we regard as scriptural, respecting the nature 
of religion, and the tests of religious worth, will not often 
allow those ecstatic feelings, on which so many of our 
fellow-Christians rest, as grounds of the conviction that 
they are the children of God, and possess an interest in 



188 



Sermon XIV. 



tlie merits of the Eedeemer's blood. And he who is in 
earnest endeavouring to follow the steps of his Great 
Master, will generally be too sensible to his own deficien- 
cies, to allow of that confident expectation, which, where it 
can be rightly indulged, is enough to absorb the thoughts 
and affections from temporal objects. But agreeably to 
those ideas which the Scriptures afford, of the mercy of 
God, and of the terms of final acceptation, the disciple of 
J esus can consistently cherish the humble belief, that his 
efforts to discharge the duties of life, his exertions to cul- 
tivate the spirit of the Gospel and to subdue the disposi- 
tions which it forbids, meet with the approbation of Him, 
who is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. 
He can consistently cherish the humble hope that, through 
the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, the state of death will 
be to him a passage to an inheritance incorruptible, un- 
defiled, and unfading. This peace the Gospel presents to 
all who faithfully endeavour to regulate their hearts and 
lives by its dictates. It sometimes happens that early 
habits, or the infiuence of the bodily constitution o'f the 
mind, prevent the enjoyment of those present rewards 
which would make the religious life what it should be, a 
cheerful life ; and too often the peace which obedience 
would yield, is chequered by the recollection of past neg- 
lects, past transgressions. But, though the Christian may 
often be unable to mount the commanding eminence from 
which he might lose the present in the prospect of the 
future, though his general situation may be in the valley 
of humility, and that may sometimes be in the vale of 
tears, yet, mixed with an humbling sense of great un- 
worthiness and much imperfection, he has those delights 



The Christian's peace. 



189 



wMcli spring from tlie exercise of the best affections, those 
mild emotions of peaceful satisfaction, wHcli are afforded 
ty the consciousness of more faithful endeavours to comjDly 
with the Gospel terms of pardon and acceptance, and 
those hopes of Divine mercy and approbation, which make 
humility itself more elevating than the proudest triumphs 
of the ambitious and worldly mind. The eye may be 
dimmed by the tear of penitence ; but it can still discern 
the promised inheritance, — it can still discern the hand of 
a Father, guiding and upholding the wavering step. And 
even sorrow gradually softens down, till it only affords a 
slight shade, to make the prospect more suitable to a state 
of trial and probation. 

The sources of Christian peace are, in great measure, 
independent of the world. The character of it is less tur- 
bulent than the pleasures of the world, — more durable and 
less mixed with the uncertainty which attends the fairest 
human prospects ; and it has no sting concealed, to wound 
the heart, and make that, which was grasped at as happi- 
ness, prove in reality a source of wretchedness. It has, 
in every point of view, a decided sujoeriority over the plea- 
sures which the Vv'orld offers ; and even over those which 
the world really affords. It is inconsistent with no pursuit 
or disposition which has a tendency to promote our real 
good or that of others. On the contrary, with respect to 
those pursuits which wisdom points out as our duty or as 
consistent with our duty, it tends to smooth our difficulties 
and to sweeten our labours ; and, with respect to those 
dispositions, which the best views of human nature show 
to be calculated to promote our happiness, it gives aid to 
the exercise of them, and derives from them materials to 
increase its own satisfaction. In this period of uncertainty 



190 



Sermon XIV. 



and change (1810) the value of the Christian peace shines 
pre-eminent. At all times there is a great degree of un- 
certainty attending the attainment and possession of any 
earthly good. Grod hath so ordered the affairs of this 
world, in connection with the moral state of man, that this 
is necessary for his improvement in the most valuable 
qualities necessary to induce him to look beyond what this 
world affords for his lasting happiness. But at the pre- 
sent time, it is peculiarly striking ; and forces itself upon 
the observation of every one, who has even common ex- 
perience of life. It seems impossible to calculate with 
any reasonable security, what may be the worldly situ- 
ation of any one, when a few months have expired. Our 
national affairs seem rapidly approaching to a crisis ; and 
what the result may be, Grod only knows. 

Happy they who have learnt to seek their chief happi- 
ness in the acquisition of the spirit of the Grospel, rather 
than in the acquisition of temporal good ; — who have learnt 
rightly to value the objects of time and sense, as designed 
by our beneficent Creator to excite to the culture of the 
best dispositions and affections, as designed to sweeten 
the exertions of life, and to make our journey pleasant 
through the pilgrimage state ; but not to be regarded as 
our chief good, not to be pursued as the one thing needful, 
not to be made to engross our best affections and our most 
earnest exertions ; in short, as designed to be pursued and 
enjoyed with moderation, and under the guidance of 
Christian principles, and with subordination to the things 
that are eternal. That they should have their peace un- 
moved by the uncertainty which hangs over their own 
earthly prospects, and that of those whom they love, and 
whose happiness is intimately connected with their own, 



Tlie Christian's peace. 



191 



is in tliis life not to be expected. It is per]ia]3S impossible 
that the views sbonld be so enlarged, the comprehension 
of the mind so extended, as always to consider events in 
their real tendencies, and thus to rejoice in them, however 
afflictive they may appear to ourselves or to those whom 
we love. But those who have regulated their dispositions 
by the spirit of the Gospel, can in all believe that mercy 
guides ; and, by the exercise of habitual resignation, can 
check those harassing, corroding, emotions, with which 
earthly disappointments are long attended, where the heart 
is not brought into subjection to the obedience of Jesus. 
And it is in periods of affliction, that the peace of Jesus 
is seen by all to be of such inestimable value. — Often has 
it made the bed of sickness, and the approach of death, 
tranquil and even cheerful. Often has it mixed in the 
bitter cup of affliction consolations of which the world 
knows nothing, — which those cannot know whose hearts 
are not in some good degree moulded by the spirit of 
Jesus. There are periods when all outward sources of 
happiness lose their power ; and when no human friend 
can, even by the most affectionate sjTnpathy, afford com- 
fort and support to the drooping heart. Then has the 
consolation which religion affords often transfused itself ; 
and, in the midst of the thickest darkness, produced a 
tranquil soothing satisfaction, a peaceful feeling of resig- 
nation, and of hope in the Divine mercy ; for the loss of 
which no earthly happiness, however great and permanent, 
would in any degree compensate. 

Before I conclude, I would observe in the First place, 
that, since the privileges of the Gospel are so great, it 
becomes us highly to prize it ; and to cultivate the highest 
gratitude to the Father of mercies, to whose love towards 



192 



Sermon XIV. 



man we owe its ricli blessings. And when we recollect 
how mucli Jesus laboured to afford us those prospects, 
which, in numberless instances, have enabled his followers 
to overcome the world, we surely cannot hesitate to offer 
to him also the tribute of admiring affectionate gratitude. 
But here we must not rest. Since he spoke and acted 
under the authority of God, we owe him implicit obedi- 
ence. This is the honour with which we must honour 
him, if we honour the Father ; and if we slight his 
authority, we slight the authority of Him who sent him. 
All we have to do, is to ascertain whether his precepts 
belong to our own particular cases ; and if they do, we 
are as much bound to obey them, as if God had, by a 
special messenger from heaven, communicated them to 
each of us individually. 

Secondly: — To possess that peace which the Gospel 
affords, we must make it our faithful and habitual endea- 
vour, to cultivate the spirit of the Gospel, and to regulate 
our conduct by its precepts. Half measures will not suc- 
ceed in religion. Perhaps those who only partially and 
irregularly endeavour to serve God, are in this life less 
happy (I do not mean less safe, but less happy,) than 
those who, without any sense of religion, prudently pursue 
this world's good. Those who do not live in the fear of God, 
and are thoughtless of His commands and threatenings, 
can enjoy temporal pleasures without those pangs of con- 
science, which attend the unlawful pursuits and pleasures 
of persons, who have religion enough to show them their 
danger and folly, but not enough to make them wise unto 
salvation. Certainly, there is more room to hope, when 
the conscience is not seared ; and therefore the state of 
such persons is less dangerous. But, I repeat it, to 



The Christian's jpcace. 



193 



possess tlie peace wMcli the Gospel affords, we must faith- 
fully give ourselves up to the cultivation of the spirit of 
the Gospel, and to obedience to its precepts. We must 
make it our chief aim to serve and please God. 

Thirdly, and lastly ; — Let me exhort my young friends 
carefully to shun those pursuits and pleasures, which will 
embitter their peace ; and, above all, carefully to avoid 
whatever will weaken the religious principles of others, 
and lead them to depart from the path of God's command- 
ments. He who hath unhappily wandered from the path 
of Christian peace and uprightness, who hath neglected 
to cultivate those dispositions which are necessary to the 
Christian character, may, by timely repentance and refor- 
mation, regain the forfeited favour of God; and, though 
he can never regain that situation in which he would have 
stood, if he had always endeavoured to live as seeing Him 
who is invisible, yet he may rightly indulge in the Chris- 
tian's peace. But, if he have caused others to disobey the 
holy laws of God, or contributed to lessen the power of 
right dispositions, his own hopes of pardon will always be 
alloyed by the distressful reflection, that others are, in 
part by his means, deprived of it ; and his peace will be 
often disturbed by the consciousness of having contributed 
to lead others in the broad path of destruction. To 
possess the Cliristian's peace, in its purest and most 
lasting form, requires the early and full devotement of 
the heart and life to Cliiistian duty. 

There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked!" 
And, on the other hand, it is seldom, that, when the mind 
is sincerely devoted to Christian obedience, it is without a 
great share of its present rewards. But be that as it may, 
the time will come when every faithful effort to acquire 

o 



194 



Sermon XIV. 



the dispositions of the Gospel, every honest endeavour to 
curb the excesses of self-love, every sacrifice of worldly 
pleasures or interests to the laws of the Gospel, will meet 
with an ample recompence. The time will come when the 
dispensations of God will be fully vindicated ; and when 
those who have acted in dutiful submission to His will^ 
shall experience the joyful issue of their privations and 
exertions, by admission into that state where sin and 
sorrow shall be known no more for ever. 

May those prospects direct our course through the per- 
plexities of life, and support us under all its trials ; and 
may we finally be owned and approved as faithful disciples 
of Jesus. — Amen. 



SERMON XV, 



<^THE WILL OF THE LOED BE DONE.'^ 



ACTS XXI., 14. 

THE WILL OF THE LOP.D BE DOXE. 

How sootMng these words to tlie friends of Paul ! The 
bare repetition of them seems to dispose the mind for the 
resigned submission which they manifest. — Whether it be 
that we have heard them from the venerable lips which 
breathed the pious sentiment of the heart, or have our- 
selves been able to employ them in prior seasons o£ 
sorrow, they throw a calm over the soul, and prepare it 
for those consolations, which, when their full influence 
is experienced, enable us, through the deepest gloom of 
affliction, to see the hand of mercy, and to acknowledge 
the dealings of Him, who doth all things wisely and well. 

^^The will of the Lord be done.'' Viho is without 
some perception of its tranquillizing influence ? May this 
be experienced by all our friends who now have calls, 
of various nature, to exercise submission and resignation 
to the will which is wisest and best ; may it be ex- 
perienced by all of us, when in our turn we are called to 
bear the chastenings of the Hea^venly Parent ! 

And sooner or later it will be our turn. You will 
agree with me that, in the brightest scenes of human hap- 



196 



Sermon XV. 



piness in tHs world, (however unmixed with shade when 
hope points out the future, or memory glances at the past), 
much really occurs to dim the vividness of fancy's colour- 
ing. You will agree with me that suffering and sorrow 
(either personal or for others,) are so common a portion 
of the lot of man, that he only can he secure from inter- 
ruption in his tranquillity, who has learnt to stay his soul 
upon God; to lay his heart to rest on His will; to consider 
every affliction and every care as from His hand ; to view 
distress, or pain, or solicitude, as it affects himself per- 
sonally, as a part of His dicipline ; and, in the calamities 
of others, in the nearer or the wider relations of life, to 
cherish the conviction that the purposes of them, whether 
seen or unseen, are such only as Infinite goodness can 
prompt, and Infinite wisdom direct. I do not mean that, 
in this state of things, the causes of suffering and solici- 
tude can be unfelt ; but their litterest poignancy is not 
known, where the heart has been so trained as true re- 
ligion can train it. Or if this be for a short time ex- 
perienced, (as even he experienced it, whom the all-wise 
Father taught what anguish and darkness are, for the 
perfecting of his own excellence and for the benefit of 
those whom he was to lead on to glory,) it is only to give 
exercise to that submission which bringeth a peace that 
passeth understanding, while it enables the sufferer to say, 
Father not my will but thine be done." 
By the m^erciful appointment of the Father of our 
spirits, even mental suffering may be alleviated by the 
recurrence of those trains of thought and feeling, which 
by degrees turn the attention of the mind from the cause 
of it, and for suffering and with suffering, introduce peace ; 
and this in precise proportion to the habitual recurrence of 



The will of the Lord he done. " 



197 



those trams. If we have accustomed ourselves frequently 
to dwell upon sucli tliouglits and feelings wlien suggested 
to us, to seek for them when circumstances in any way 
call for their influence, to cherish the habits of mind which 
are ^ in consonance with them, and to check those dis- 
positions and opinions which tend to exclude or to weaken 
them, they become so habitual as to recur with readiness 
and almost certainty, in the hour of need. 

Among the sentiments which have this supporting 
tranquillizing influence, you would naturally expect the 
distressed servant of God to think of Him as the author 
of all events, and to own His hand even in those which 
appear most afflictive, to dwell with simple, heartfelt faith 
on the words of him who is the way, the truth, and the 
life, — that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our 
heavenly Father, and that even the hairs of our heads are 
all numbered : to call to mind his dutiful submission to the 
will of Him that sent him, when darkness himg over his 
path, and it was leading through shame and anguish : to 
rest upon the consideration that the Sovereign Lord of 
heaven and of earth, is guided in all the works of His hand, 
and the dealings of His providence, by benevolence un- 
bounded as His wisdom and power; and that he who 
leadeth us to the throne of God, hath taught us to view 
this infljiitely great and gracious Being as our Father, and 
to seek at the throne of grace for mercy and for grace to 
help in time of need. 

Not leaving preparation for the trials of life to the 
periods when all support is needed, contemplation on the 
circumstances of others, and on the ends of our existence, 
has often brought into view the purposes and effects of 
affliction; and the serious thoughtful mind would trace 



198 



Sermon XV. 



with satisfaction its frequent effects in ameliorating the 
disposition, in leading the heart to turn its attention upon 
itself, in teaching it invaluable lessons of humility, iii 
"breaking the bondage of evil habits, in preparing it for 
those of duty, in tutoring the soul for sympathy, in lead- 
ing to him -who hath the words of everlasting life, and who 
offers rest to the soul, in cherishing that love and confi- 
dence towards the Father of mercies which forms so 
essential a part of spiritual excellence. 

In preparing for the hour of need, the disciple of 
Christ will have dwelt with interesting satisfaction on the 
manifestations which personal knowledge or faithful biog- 
raphy have presented to his reflection, of trust and resig- 
nation, of humble submission, of grateful confidence, of 
filial faith and duty ; and thereby learnt liow they support, 
and what they have supported. From the present sense o£ 
duty, and perhaps looking forward to the hour of trial, he 
must carefully check those habits and dispositions which 
oppose the growth of resignation in his own soul ; he 
must aim to lessen that proud self-willedness which is the 
chief source of human misery ; he must give no permanent 
room to those doubts respecting the dealings of provi- 
dence, which, whatever foundation they may have in the 
appearance of things, have none in the reality ; — but, on 
the other hand, he must cherish by all the exercises of 
faith and joiety, and by the considerations presented by 
the wise and good, the conviction that if all is not clear 
(and to human knowledge it cannot be,) all is right. 

With such culture, — learning habitually to regard 
affliction not as a punishment (unless indeed brought on 
by sin or folly), but as chastisement, corrective discipline, 
directed by the hand of mercy, — all the feelings of tran- 



The will of tlie Lord he done.'' 



199 



quil acquiescence would become familiar to liim; every 
exercise of them would render them more easy of intro- 
duction ; they would recur when they were required, with, 
readiness and almost with certainty ; and though they 
would not annihilate the "p^ng of tenderness, though they 
would not entirely dissipate the apprehensions of solicitous 
affection, though they would not stop the flow of those 
tears which are the tribute of friendship or of sympathy, 
they would temper the sorrows and solicitudes of humanity, 
and gradually shed over the soul that holy calm which 
prepares for duty, which leads to God, and which, even in 
sorrow, suffering, and care, gives a foretaste of heaven. 

There is in our collection a hymn, which so much em- 
bodies and expresses the supports of religion in the hour 
of trial, that under the blessing of God, it has proved of 
incalculable service to many, very many, who have needed 
them. I refer to the 431st, derived from the poems of Mrs. 
C. Eichardson, published under the care of Mrs. Cappe. 
The author is not of our own religious denomination ; but 
the spirit of Christ, the essence of religious faith, is eon- 
fined to no visible church. 

When sorrow sinks my spirit down, 

And grief o'erwhelms my troubled mind, 

Faith cries, *'Look up to God alone, 
A refuge thou in Him shalt find." 

My soul obeys the sacred word, 

And casts her care upon the Lord. 

What though affliction's shades surround 
My path, yet God is wise and just ; 

And oft my fainting soul has found 
The promise true, in which I trust : 

Shall I then doubt His sacred word? 

No, — let me humbly trust the Lord. 



200 



Sermon XV. 



'Tis in the liour of deep distress 

That we religion's comfort prove ; 
The chastening hand we feel and bless 

Of God, that scourges us in love : 
Though nature sinks beneath the rod. 
Yet faith reposes still in God. 

"Were any thing needed to render it deeply interesting 
and edifying, it might Tbe found in the fact, that this 
hymn was written when the author, then a servant, 
through unjust aspersions on her character, was thrown 
on the wide world with no parent or friend to aid her, 
without the solace of friendship, even without the prospect 
of a livelihood, in the strictest sense houseless, sole, 
forlorn;" and in these circumstances, in the full exercise 
of trust and duty, she wrote this admirable hymn. It 
came from the spirit of godliness, and it has often led the 
spirit to God. 

It is the Lord that strikes the blow, 
Let every murmuring thought be still : 

Oft has He made my cup o'erflow. 
And shall I dare dispute His will? 

For ever be the thought abhorr'd ; 

My soul ! still wait thou on the Lord. 

Wait, till He bid thy sorrows cease. 

Till He thy every care remove ; 
And though thy troubles fast increase, 

Thou need'st not doubt thy Father's love : 
Though He delay, yet trust His word : 
For true and faithful is the Lord. 

Yes — Israel's God was never known 
To leave His children in distress : 

Mercy and truth surround His throne. 
His judgments all are righteousness : 

Still shall my soul this truth accord ; 

I wni for ever trust the Lord. 



" The will of the Lord he done, " 



201 



Yes, the resignation of faitli and duty enables the 
weak to support what might to them have seemed insup- 
portable. It brings with it so many tranquillizing con- 
siderations, so many elevated sentiments, — all of which 
tend to lessen the acuteness of suffering and solicitude, — 
that the mind into which it completely enters, will not 
sink long under the pressure, however great it may 
appear. 

By a benevolent provision of the Great Being who- 
gave us our spiritual nature, the mind of man, when in a 
heathful state, seeks involujitarily for that which will 
lessen the vividness of its painful emotions. At first 
perhaps it dwells with some sort of satisfaction upon 
whatever aggravates them ; it recalls the past, though the 
recollection inflicts the severest wounds ; but soon with 
these recollections, others enter, which blend with pain 
some milder emotions diminishing its acuteness, and pre- 
paring the way for the admission of feelings more grateful 
and more customary to the mind. I do not say that this 
is the universal progress ; but you may often trace it in- 
your own minds, and observe it in others. 

But there are sorrows which seem to repel the aid 
of this natural relief ; in which the inroad into the means 
of happiness is too great to permit its easy reparation. 
Observe the effects which such causes of affliction pro- 
duce in minds of different training and dispositions. You 
see one resorting to the house of festivity, to dissipate the 
impressions made in house of mourning ; you see him 
drowning his sorrows in noisy gaiety, and endeavouring to 
drive away feelings which it were good for him to indulge, 
by mixing in the scenes of dissipation, if not of actual 
sin. 



■202 



Sermon XV. 



You do not wisL. to follow his example ; nor would I 
hold up as a pattern the system of him who pronounces it 
necessary to submit to irresistible fate, declaring it is vain 
to attempt to remove the burden or to resist it, and that, 
as it must be borne, it is as well to strive to feel its weight 
as little as possible ; — for though human pride may do 
much to produce indifference and apathy, these are not 
qualities of the highest character, nor in general have 
they any alliance with them. 

But observe the man who, from the midst of sorrow, is 
enabled to bring into view those ideas of the Divine 
dealings and character, which he has cherished as his 
soul's best support ; see him calmly bowing to the appoint- 
ment of Providence ; see him (in spirit) in the moments of 
solitude, laying open his sorrows to Him who knoweth 
every secret of his heart, seeking from Him aid to support 
them, and grace to sanctify them, and returning from 
communion with the Father of his spirit, with a heart, not 
cheerful perhaps, but serene, prepared for dutiful service, 
and for further trials of faith and patience, grateful for 
mercies that are past, and in their removal owning His 
hand, whose love, and mercy, and wisdom, and faithful- 
ness, he has habitually owned and adored. The inex- 
perienced, or those ignorant of religious consolation, may 
be surprised perhaps to see him thus supported, if they 
have not observed active courage in his usual deportment, 
or thought him possessed of that constitutional fortitude 
which enables him to bear with ease the evils under which 
others sink; still more, if they have known that he shrinks 
(if not from suffering in general) from that particular kind 
of suffering, that he feels actutely, and that he is wounded 
in the tenderest part. I am convinced you have anticipated 



" Tlie vjill of the Lord he done. " 



203 



me in the cause of Ms composure ; lie had fled where all 
sons of sorrow should fly ; and he returned enabled to say, 
*'the will of the Lord be done." 

There are few cases in which the cultivation of a right 
affection is so certainly and readily attended with its 
reward, as in this of which we are speaking. It is a fact 
which, were we unable to account for it, we might yet 
state with perfect confidence, that trustful, dutiful resig- 
nation is the most effectual relief imder affliction ; and that, 
where it gains complete hold of the mind, it dissipates 
gloom, though it may not bring light-heartedness, and 
introduces a holy peace though it may not restore lively 
cheerfulness. 

Buc were its beneficent effects less obvious, or were any 
one from a perversion of sentiment to prefer to dwell in 
gloom, still would resignation be a duty ; for in the first 
place, its elementary affections are essential to the af- 
fections of a general piety. It is formed of submission, 
and trust, and love ; and all that nourishes these, in like 
manner nourishes the sentiments and emotions of resign 
nation. If it be not an inmate in the breast, it is because 
the corroding influence of self-love and self-consideration 
have not been sufficiently checked, to allow the best 
affections of our nature an opportunity for their exercise. 
If repining discontent be the language of the heart, 
it must be because it is not sufficiently tutored to trust 
in the goodness of God, to submit to His appointments, 
to be grateful to Him for past mercies and for present 
comforts still continued ; it is because the love of God 
has not yet acquired its due sway within. Further, resig- 
nation is intimately connected with the feelings of be- 
nevolence. The same wrong biasses of the judgment or 



204 



Sermon XV. 



the dispositions, which prevent its exercise when affliction 
presents the occasion, will also lead to view with ill-will, 
those who have in any way contributed to cause it, as well 
as those who do not appear ready to give that commisera- 
tion, which is sought to supply the deficiency of more 
valuable alleviations : in short, they cultivate that queru- 
lous f retf ulness which tends so much to destroy the comfort 
of the social connections, and, by fixing the mind upon its 
own narrow concerns and on selfish considerations, checks 
|he attention to the concerns, the comfort, and the welfare 
of others. 

Once more, resignation checks that immoderate sorrow 
which unfits for the due discharge of the duties of life. I 
am well aware that resignation does not annihilate sorrow ; 
because it supposes the sources of it to exist. I will add 
more, it does not stop the tear, it does not stifle the sigh, 
it does not prevent the throb of anguish; but, in the 
midst of all, it bows to the will of Him who hath 
appointed the stroke : and when the first struggles of 
nature are over, it leads the soul to the source of 
peace, and enables it to imbibe that peace which is felt in 
the inmost recesses of the soul, which gradually finds 
its way among the sources of grief, and by degrees diffuses 
a general tranquillity within, and permits the spirit, with 
full and complete accordance of the understanding and the 
affection, to say, The will of the Lord be done," — ^^All 
is well." 

The Christian's duty is clear, and the pattern for his 
guidance most encouraging; for Jesus wept at the grave 
of Lazarus, though he was about to call him to life ; and 
in the near prospect of accumulated suffering, and in the 
actual experience of what was more intense than the agony 



" Tlie vnll of tlic Lord he done, " 



205 



of tlie cross, lie said, If tliis cup may not pass from mo 
iDiit I drink it, Tliy ^ill not mine be done." By us, and by 
all Thy children, 0 God, may Thy will be done ; and every 
■will that opposes it be humbled and resigned ! 

Here I will conclude. I had prepared to offer you a 
few considerations respecting the means by which we may 
be enabled to exercise this duty, when required by the 
actual experience of trouble, whether it be in the form of 
worldly loss, or pain, of sorrow, or of solicitude ; but I 
have already in some measiu'e anticipated them ; and I 
may, at any rate, I feel, leave what I have said to your 
own reflection. — May the peace of God which passetli all 
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 



SERMON XVL 



THE WILL OF GOD THE BEST EULE OF DUTY- 



PSALM XXXVIL, 31. 

THE LAW OF HIS GOD IS m HIS HEART; NOITE OF HIS 
STEPS SHALL SLIDE. 

These words of the pious Psalmist clearly imply two im- 
portant truths ; — in the first place, that the Will of God, 
considered as the rule of duty, is the most safe and secure 
guide ; — and that an habitual regard to His Will is the 
best preservative from all moral danger. He who steadily 
aims to regulate his dispositions, and to guide his conduct, 
by what he knows of the Will of God, cannot wander far 
or long from the path of duty. He who makes obedience 
to the Will of God his prevailing motive, who lives in 
His fear, and under the habitual influence of the desire 
to obtain His approbation and shun His displeasure, 
cannot fall into fatal transgressions or neglect of duty* 
He will walk uprightly ; and he will consequently walk 
securely. He must be restrained, by the power of this 
ennobling principle, from all known and wilful trans- 
gression ; and, in so far as he is under the influence of a 
single steady aim to do the Will of God, he must proceed 
in the way of duty with consistency, with firmness, with 
security, and in general with inward peace and satisfaction. 



Tlie Will of God the lest Rule of Duty. 207 



These truths, though distinct, are nevertheless very 
intimately connected together. The Will of God may be 
regarded as the Eule of duty, or as the motive to the per- 
formance of duty ; but there never, perhaps, was an in- 
stance, in Trhich the two views were not united in the 
actual employment of them. He who honestly makes the 
Will of God his Eule of conduct, can scarcely avoid per- 
ceiving that it is his duty to act under the influence of a 
regard to His Will, — that it is his duty to live as seeing 
Him who is invisible, and (while he endeavours to guide 
his conduct and his dispositions by the commands of God,) 
to make the desire of His approbation, the fear of His 
displeasure, his direct and habitual motives in the regu- 
lation of heart and life. On the other hand, he who is 
really and habitually influenced by the desire to obey the 
Divine Will, cannot but be led by that desire to use every 
means in his power to know what is His Will. If he 
sincerely and heartily desire to obey God, he will make 
what he knows of His Will the guide of his life. In 
short, if the desire to obey the Will of God operates- 
powerfully in the heart, the Will of God wiU be made the 
guide of duty. And if the Will of God is sincerely and 
heartily made the guide of duty, the desire to obey the 
Will of God must necessarily operate powerfully as a- 
motive. If the law of God really is in the heart, it will 
guide and it will influence. It will show us our duty and 
prompt us to pursue it. And, when this is the case, it 
requires but little experience in life to perceive, that our 
path will usually be free from perplexities and hindrances, 
moral dangers will be easily foreseen, temptations will 
have little power ; and, in proportion as the Law of God 
rules in the heart, our footsteps will not slide, — we shall. 



208 



Sermon XVI. 



proceed with steadiness and security in the way of duty, — 
the testimony of an approving conscience will lighten its 
difficulties, — and, supported by an humble hope of the 
approbation of Him to whom all hearts are open, this will 
afford inward peace, and a cheering prospect of never- 
ending happiness in that state where sin and darkness 
shall be known no more. 

In what farther I shall at present lay before you, I 
shall not attempt to preserve any marked distinction 
between the Will of Grod considered as the Eule of duty, 
and considered as the motive to action ; but I shall have 
only in view to show that the Will of Grod is the best 
guide of conduct. At first sight it really appears unneces- 
■sary in any way to attempt to prove this. It seems a seK- 
wident maxim, that the Will of an all-wise and good 
Being must afford the best guidance to His weak and 
erring creatures ; and it is probable that no consistent and 
serious believer in the existence of such a Being, can 
entertain a doubt that, wherever the Divine Will is known, 
it is our duty to obey it, and that it cannot but be for our 
interest and happiness to obey it. The state of the case 
however, is, that in a variety of instances we are left, 
even with all the aid of Revelation (great and important 
as it is,) to ascertain the Will of Grod from the beneficial 
tendency of actions to others or to ourselves ; and, in 
consequence, many moralists have been led to make this 
tendency the criterion of virtue and the foundation of 
•duty. Others again, observing that the dictates of their 
.consciences afford them a correct and extensive Eule of 
duty, consider the conscience as the best moral guide ; 
though most of those would allow the necessity of en- 
lightening the conscience by what is known as the Divine 



Tlie Will of God the hcst Rule of Duty. 209 



Will by express Eevelation. Others have made virtue 
consist in living according to nature, or in the agreement 
of actions and dis]30sitions with the circumstances in which 
the agent is placed. Various other foundations and rules 
of duty have been proposed, but those are the most 
plausible. When we consider the speculations of Philoso- 
phers on the subject of moral obligation, and the rule 
of duty, and observe the great diversity which exists 
among them as to the theory of virtue, we might naturally 
expect to find great difference in the application of their 
systems to the practical principles of morality ; but where 
they have been in any considerable degree guided by the 
morality of the Gospel, it will seldom be found that they 
differ widely on any essential point. Yet it is not a matter 
of slight importance what we lay down for ourselves 
as our fundamental principle of duty ; some principles are 
less extensive, others more accommodating ; and our views 
of duty will usually be found to be clear, extensive, cor- 
rect, and impressive, in proportion as the principle is so 
which we employ as our foundation. 

I do not wish to go so far as one excellent writer has 
done, and say that virtue consists in voluntary obedience 
to the Will of Grod. Undoubtedly every act of voluntary 
obedience to the Divine Will, is an act of virtue, but an 
action may surely be virtuous which does not include an 
explicit reference to the will of God, — which is not pro- 
duced by the immediate operation of a regard to His will. 
I admit that, where the mind is habitually under the 
influence of a regard to the Divine Will, it will operate 
directly or indirect^ in almost every action, and in almost 
every instance of the exercise or restraint of the affections ; 
but should we therefore deny the character of virtuous to 

P 



210 



Sermon XVI. 



actions in themselves rigM where the motive was also 
right? — for instance, a strong sense of dnty, a disinterested 
desire to promote the happiness of a fellow-creature ? Or 
should we deny the character of virtuous to such motives or 
dispositions, though for the time at least there was no 
direct intention of obedience to the Divine Will, or even 
any idea at the time in the mind that we were in reality 
acting agreeably to the will of God ? I admit again that 
the character of the action is greatly heightened, if it not 
only spring from a sense of duty, and a desire to do good, 
but also from the belief that it was agreeable to the 
Divine Will, and the desire to obey it. Indeed it has then 
reached the highest point of excellence. But I contend 
that an action is truly virtuous, if it be in itself right 
{i. e, conformable to the Will of God), and springing from 
a sense of duty, or a desire to do good ; and that the 
motives will be so likewise, in proportion as they are 
pure, — that is, free from a regard to our own real or 
supposed good. 

The excellent writer to whom I have referred (Pearson 
in his remarks on Paley) has taken, as a definition of 
virtue, one which only includes the perfection of virtue, 
I can think of no higher degree of it, than what he 
lays down as essential to it, — voluntary obedience to 
the Divine Will. It was the distinguishing excellence of 
our Saviou.r's character, that it was his meat to do the 
Will of God ; and, in so far as his disciples imitate the 
spirit of their venerated Lord, they will approach that 
height of excellence, in which the will of God wiU be our 
will, and His glory our chief aim. But if we refuse the 
character of virtue to aU actions but those which spring 
from this ennobling motive, we must not only say that the 



The Will of God the lest Bide of Duty. 211 



speculative atheist cannot be in any degree virtuous, 
liowever much he may act from a sense of justice, of 
benevolence, &c. ; but must deny the axDiDellation of virtuous 
to the most worthy, just, generous, or humane, actions of 
ihose who, while they believe in the existence and govern- 
ment of an Infinitely wise, powerful, and gracious Being, 
jet have little, if any, explicit regard to His will. Their 
virtue is defective both in its extent and in its worth ; their 
characters want that grand quality, which is requisite to 
complete excellence, which cannot fail to give them 
stability and purity; but, in so far as they observe the 
laws of benevolence, truth, uprightness, temperance, &c., 
from a sense of duty, a desire to do good, or any other 
motive consistent with the Will of God, their conduct 
is virtuous, and their motives are virtuous also. The real 
excellence of Pearson's principles of morality, (wliich 
have their foundation laid in religion, in a regard to the 
Will of God), will be preserved, if we define virtue to be 
the conformity of dispositions, and of the actions which 
result from them, to the Will of God. 

And here I must observe, before I proceed, that the 
views of duty which Eevelation unfolds to us, will not 
allow us to separate actions from their motives, when we 
speak of them as virtuous. Actions may, in themselves 
considered, be right ; and yet, as far as respects the agent, 
have no moral character, because they spring from no 
worthy principles within. They may, as far as respects 
the agent, be even sinful ; because, right in themselves, 
they spring from sinful motives. For instance, the liber- 
tine may afford pecuniary aid to a distressed family, 
in order to gain the confidence and ruin the happiness of 
one member of it. On the other hand, right motives 



212 



Sermon XVI. 



cannot make a wrong action right. Tlie agent may not be 
culpable, since Ms conduct migbt be wrong tbrough. igno- 
rance only ; but though, his motives may excuse him in the 
sight of Grod, they cannot alter the nature of his conduct. 
The persecutor may really be influenced by the idea of 
doing Grod service ; and may suppose that what he does> 
is right. But his actions of persecution are not thereby 
deprived of their real character; they are wrong; and 
cannot be made right by any motives whatever. For 
an action to be entitled to the appellation of virtuous, 
it must not only be right, — that is, conformable to the 
"Will of God ; — but it must spring from right motives,— 
that is, such as are themselves conformable to the Will of 
God. On this point it might not be useless to enlarge; 
but I shall at present proceed to observe, — 

First : — That by making the Will of God the criterion 
of virtue, in other words our Eule of duty, we do in fact 
include every other criterion of virtue, or rule of duty, that 
is itself reasonable and just. If it is urged, (for instance) 
that the dictates of conscience should be our Bule of dut}^, 
we say that, from attentive consideration of the nature of 
man, as well as from the declarations of Revelation, it is 
clear that the conscience was intended by the great author 
of our frame to be our guide in all cases of emergency, 
and to have great influence in every department of duty : 
but that, without due care and culture, it may become, and 
often is, erroneous and defective ; — that therefore it is not 
safe as an exclusive guide of duty, but should itself be put 
under the direction of the still higher principle, the Will 
of God ; — that we should enlighten the conscience by the 
law of God, and other intimations of His Will, and then 
submit implicitly to its direction ; but that it is only where 



The Will of God the lest Rule of Duty. 213 



it does direct us in conformity to tlie Will of God, tliat it 
is our duty to obey it. The will of God, therefore, is 
at last the point to which we must come, if we would 
judge how far the dictates of conscience ought to govern 
us. And, though these do of themselves often afford 
much light as to the Will of God,— though they may some- 
times be our only direct guide as to the conduct which will 
be acceptable to Him, — and in all cases should receive 
great attention, — yet it is only so far as we have reason to 
believe the conscience to be conformable to the wiU of God, 
that obedience to it is our duty ; and the will of God 
should therefore be our chief guide of duty, and should be 
employed to regulate, correct, refine, and extend, the 
dictates of every subordinate principle. 

Suppose, again, that the beneficial tendency, or utility, 
of actions and dispositions, be made the Eule of duty, we 
reply that, in so far as they really have this beneficial ten- 
dency, they must be conformable to the Will of God ; and 
that therefore this rule is also included under the Rule 
which should be employed as our grand and invariable 
guide. The beneficial tendency of actions and dispositions, 
may sometimes be our only guide as to the Y/ill of God ; 
and may often aid us in the application of the Scripture 
23recepts of duty ; and still more frequently may serve to 
show us the grounds and reasons of those precepts, their 
importance, and subserviency to the welfare of mankind. 
But the supposed tendency of actions can never be put 
against the Law of God, as declared to us by Revelation ; 
and should not, therefore, be made our chief rule. The 
same may be shown of every other criterion of virtue or 
rule of duty ; so far as it is self -consistent, consistent with 



214 



Sermon XVI. 



other principles of duty, and really just and useful, it 
cannot fail to be included under that one, which, it is alike 
our wisdom and duty to make ou.r invariable guide, — the 
Will of God. That by which all other principles of duty 
must be tested, should itself be employed as our constant 
standard of right and wrong ; and this leads me to observe, 
Secondly : — That this Rule of Duty is absohitely universal] 
it extends to every part of the external conduct, and to 
every internal disposition. Some rules of duty leave out 
of sight important branches of moral excellence ; for * 
example, if virtue be made to consist, as some moralists 
define it, in doing good to others, in benevolent endeavours 
to promote the welfare of mankind, those important classes 
of duties which respect ]piety towards Grocl, and the regu- 
lation of our own desires and affections, are completely 
left out of sight. And I have no doubt, that this defi- 
ciency has, in a vast variety of instances, tended to weaken 
the sense of their obligation, to make them but littlo 
thought of, or, if thought of, viewed as not essential to 
human virtue. When the Will of God is made the Eule 
of duty, there can be no such deficiency. His Will cannot 
but respect all our actions, desires, affections, and dis- 
positions. The Laws of God, (by which I particularly 
understand the Eevealed declarations of His Will) — the 
Laws of God clearly extend to all these ; and the attentive 
observance of the course of Providence, of the dictates of 
conscience, and of the frame of man, while they aid us in 
the application of the Divine command, do also serve to 
show us His Will, in a degree, and with a force, propor- 
tioned to the extent and accuracy of our observations. 
And even if there be any cases in which the Laws of God 



The Will of God the lest Rule of Duty. 215 



fail of application, yet, from those 'sources, the mind sin- 
cerely desirous of knowing and doing the Will of God, 
can seldom be at a loss to discover what it really is. 

Again, Thirdly The Will of God, considered as the 
Eule of duty, is an invariable principle. As far as wo are 
left to ascertain the WiU. of God from inferior and sub- 
ordinate rules, this rule must in some measure partake of 
that uncertainty. But, with the Eevealed will of God to 
aid us, to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our 
paths, to prevent confined experience and erroneous con- 
science from misleading as, it is extremely seldom that 
there can be any difference of opinion as to duty, where 
the Will of God is honestly employed as a standard. If 
utility be made the criterion of virtue or rule of duty, 
greater or less degrees of experience, greater or less free- 
dom from the perverting influence of selfish feelings, will 
lead to widely different convictions, — if not with respect 
to the justness of the grand principles of duty, — at least 
with respect to the extent and application of them. If 
the dictates of conscience (unless it be trained by the very 
Eule of which we are speaking) be fixed upon as the 
guide of duty, we shall find them varying in extent, in 
correctness, and in power, through the influence of fashion, 
of prejudice, of ignorance, and of prevalent opinions and 
examples. But he who sets out with the Will of God as 
his Eule of duty, has a fixed principle, which will not 
bend to the reasonings of the philosopher, to the opinions 
of the multitude, or to the promptings of passion. If, 
indeed, we do not seek for that as the primary principle of 
duty, we may sometimes be led to fancy that conduct is 
directed by the Will of God, which is really inconsistent 
with it. But the more we seek for the guidance of that 



216 



Sermon XVI. 



principle, liumbly, sincerely, and earnestly, tlie more we 
shall find it ; and the more we find it, tlie more firm, 
steady, and invariable, must our views of duty become ; 
for tlie Will of Grod itself must be invariable. 

And liere I would observe, FourtJily : — Tliat, by taking 
the Will of God as our Eule of duty, our ideas of duty 
will gradually become clear, and expansive ; and this to a 
degree which cannot be generally, at least, expected where 
we rest in any subordinate rules. Voluntary obedience 
to the Will of Grod " has an exalting and expanding in- 
fluence on the mind. If our own welfare be regarded as 
the foundation of duty, in so far as we made it our rule, 
our views would be confined to our own little sphere ; we 
should judge of actions and dispositions, only, or princi- 
pally, in the relation they bear to personal happiness ; 
and, leaving out of view the intricacies and perplexities 
in which we should be continually involved, our notions of 
duty (unless still guided by the rule of Revelation) would 
be as narrow and contracted as the principle on which they 
are founded. The same things may be observed, though 
to a less extent, as to rules of duty founded upon utility 
and conscience ; unless still further guided by the rule of 
Revelation. So far from expanding as we proceed, our 
views would usually become limited by difiiculties and ob- 
jections, which, in the commencement of our moral investi- 
gation, we had overlooked. But fix upon the Will of God 
as the Eule of duty, with an impressive conviction on the 
mind that His Will must be right and good ; — we see more 
and more clearly the tendency of obedience to promote the 
welfare of His rational creatures ; — one moral truth serves 
as the basis of another; — as we advance, difficulties 
lessen ; — we see things more as they would be viewed by 



The Will of God the lest Rule of Duty. 217 



us, if we could take the rule into account, and forgot their 
relations to ourselves ; and we learn to view duty in its 
whole extent, where other rules would leave deficiencies, — 
we learn to view actions and dispositions without that 
undue reference to their immediate consequences, to which 
the subordinate rules of duty must too generally confine us. 

This leads me to observe Fifthly :^Th.Sit the Will of 
God, considered as a Eule of duty, is, in an eminent 
degree, a safe guide. Several eminent moralists, and parti- 
cularly Paley, have made general expediency the criterion 
of virtue ; and the author of Political Justice (whose 
moral speculations, though in some cases interesting and 
valuable, often show the folly of leaving the Will of God 
as our best guide,) maintains that morality is nothing 
but a calculation of consequences, and an adoption of that 
mode of conduct, which, upon the most comprehensive 
view, appears to be attended with a balance of general 
pleasiD?e and happiness." — But it is clear that beings, who 
cannot see the consequences of any action in their full 
extent and connections, cannot be adequate judges of 
general expediency ; and that, if they take this as more 
than a subordinate rule of duty, they must be continually 
misled by their ignorance and selfish prejudices. The 
true plan undoubtedly is, to ascertain, as far as we can, 
what is our duty, taking the Will of God as our Pule and 
Guide ; and then to pursue it, without thinking too much 
on the particular consequences of our observance of it. 
^^The happiness of the world," Bishop Butler admirably 
observes, ^ ^ is the considering of Him who is the Lord 
and proprietor of it ; nor do we know what we are about, 
when we endeavour to promote the good of mankind, in 
any ways but those which He has directed." 



218 



Sermon XVI. 



Sixthly : — The Will of God, considered as a Eule of 
duty, is a rule which carries with it its own obligation. — It 
may indeed be said, that there is one ground of obligation 
beyond it, which is brought into view by that definition of 
virtue which makes it consist in its tendency to promote 
the ultimate happiness of the agent. And it is to be 
allowed, that we may ask, with reverence, why should we 
obey the Will of Grod ? But the answer is plain and 
obvious, — because under the government of an Infinitely 
wise, good, and powerful Being, obedience to His Will 
must secure our highest welfare. When once asked, it is 
a question which never need be asked again. Its answer 
is a self-evident and necessary truth. I say, therefore, 
that our rule carries its own authority along with it. We 
cannot think of any higher obligation, than the commands 
of that gracious Being, under whose government we live, 
and upon whom we depend now and for ever. We have 
nothing to do but to know what His will is, and then 
obey, with full security that we are doing what is wise 
and right, what in fact is best for others and for ourselves. 
And it may be observed that, if we make the tendency of 
actions and dispositions towards our own ultimate happi- 
ness, the criterion of virtue, we have no more sure and 
general guide as to that tendency, than the Will of Him 
upon whom our ultimate happiness depends ; so that, take 
whatever view of it we will, we come to the same con- 
viction. 

Several other reflections occur to the mind, in connec- 
tion with this subject ; but I have already encroached too 
much upon your time, and I shall for the present only 
observe — 

In the Seventh and last place : — That the emplojmient 



The Will of God the lest Rule of Duty. 219 



of the Will of God as our Eule of duty, must almost 
necessarily lead us to make the Will of God our motive 
as well as our guide. It is indeed a supposable case, that 
a loerson shall habitually employ the exalted rule only for 
its being the best for him, as the best guide to his highest 
interests. But such is the constitution of the human 
mind, that it is scarcely a possible case. — "We are so 
formed, that what we pursue as a means by degrees will 
become our end. In whatever way we learn the Will of 
God, (whether by the course of His Providence, by our 
consciences, by the frame of man, or above all by Eeve- 
lation,) if we steadily employ it as our Eule and Guide 
(although in the first instance, because it is our wisdom to 
do so, — because thus we shall best promote our own 
welfare,) it must, as we proceed, be continually obeyed 
without any explicit reference to its conseq^uences to our- 
selves ; and, in proportion to the frequency and constancy 
of voluntary obedience to the Will of God, it will of itseK 
become our object, our first and chief object. Besides, if 
we take the Will of God as the guide of duty, it cannot 
fail to teach us (what other rules too often leave out of 
sight), that it is our duty to cultivate the disposition to 
obey Him, to seek for His approbation, to shun His dis- 
pleasure, to fear Him, to love Him, to trust in Him, and 
to serve Him ; and we cannot therefore doubt, both from 
the natural tenden^ of the mind, and from those views of 
duty which the Will of God communicates, that, if we do 
make it our guide, we shall necessarily be led to make it 
our motive. Habitual, universal, voluntary, intentional, 
obedience to the Will of God, mu.st be the highest point 
of excellence among all His rational -creatures. This- 
motive must carry along with it worth and happiness, 



220 



Sermon XVI. 



security and peace, in proportion to the steadiness and 
extent of its influence. This, the frame of man and the 
course of Providence, — this, the light of Eevelation, — 
most expressly and forcibly teach us. In proportion as 
the Will of God becomes our motive, shall we see clearly, 
and discharge steadily the whole of our duty. In that 
proportion shall we become like him, whose grand end and 
aim was to promote the glory of the Great Being who 
sent him, and to finish His work. In that proportion 
«hall we become partakers of the Divine nature, and the 
Will of God become our will. 

I May it become the language of our thoughts and 
words and actions, as well as of our direct supplications, 
— Heavenly Father, may Thy Kingdom come, may Thy 
wiU be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. 




ARROWSMITH, PHINTER, QUAY STREET, BRISTOL. 



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